


Who We Are

by SquirrelNova



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Angst, Aromantic Asexual Pidge | Katie Holt, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Gay Keith (Voltron), Keith (Voltron) is Bad at Feelings, Keith and Shiro are Adoptive Siblings, M/M, Mutual Pining, POV Lance (Voltron), Pining Keith (Voltron), Pining Lance (Voltron), Slow Burn, Socially Awkward Keith (Voltron), Trans Female Pidge | Katie Holt, Trans Keith (Voltron), Unreliable Narrator, everyone is human, lance is in denial, there isnt much focus on the high school bit later on but its there at the start, this is the first fic ive written in over a year so forgive me if its bad, very slow burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-20
Updated: 2018-05-02
Packaged: 2018-12-04 18:13:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 23,457
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11560644
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SquirrelNova/pseuds/SquirrelNova
Summary: Lance is a busy person. In the daytime, he's just a normal student, but with ice-based superpowers and two faithful sidekicks (read: friends who keep him from doing something stupid), he spends his nights fighting crime and kicking ass. At the moment, the latest supervillain thorn in his side is a mysterious arsonist known only as 'Red', who Lance is determined to bring to justice, and the latest high school thorn in his side is the cute new kid named Keith who's determined to keep his distance from everyone. Little does he know that the two may be more connected than he realises.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> [Red and Blue look like this](http://squirrelnova.tumblr.com/post/163223853057/superhero-costume-designs-for-my-fic-who-we-are)
> 
>  
> 
> Fanfic title is from the Imagine Dragons song of the same name

Lance was not having the best day.

Without the whole superhero thing, Lance’s day would have gone great. Sure, Iverson was on his ass again because he copied his homework off Pidge again, but he was planning on going over to Hunk’s house after detention and Hunk had promised to bake cookies, so that would have been great had Lance not been rudely interrupted by another building on fire. Sure, he was a superhero, so he could hold his own just fine, but fire and ice don’t really mix, and saving people from a burning building becomes a lot harder when you can’t use your powers.

“Pidge, how are we doing?” He hissed into his earpiece, narrowly avoiding some burning debris from the rapidly collapsing building.

_“Firemen are putting out the building now, so you should be able to use your powers soon. According to my scanners there are still three people in the building including you, so you need to get to them before Red does.”_

“Don’t sweat it Pidge, I got this.”

_“You’re the one in the burning building. Your suit’s soaked.”_

“It’s just water! My ice melted, remember?”

_“Uh, guys?”_ Hunk interrupted them _“Do you know where Red is? Do you think they’re still in the building? Please don’t tell me they’re still in the building.”_

Lance headed further into the building, shooting ice to create a pathway but unable to prevent it melting in the harsh heat. By now he’d gotten most people out of there after the fire started, and there were ambulances taking care of people who needed them, but thankfully the worst injuries were a few minor burns – at least they would be provided that he could save the final two people Pidge’s BLIP-tech had located.

_“The last two should be straight ahead.”_

Someone screamed.

Lance broke into a sprint only to see a little girl being picked up by ‘Red’ – the cause of all the recent fires and Lance’s least favourite supervillain. She kicked and screamed at them the best she could, but their grip on her was unyielding. It made Lance’s blood boil.

A familiar chill shot through his arms as he readied an attack, but before his ice bolt could even touch Red they dropped their captive and countered it with a wall of fire, melting his ice instantly.

Red didn’t speak – they never spoke – but the condescending look they gave him was more than enough for Lance to know that they weren’t even taking him seriously.

If superpowers wouldn’t work, Lance would have to beat them the old-fashioned way.

He threw himself towards his nemesis, trying to throw punch after punch but Red dodged each one with cold ease. The bastard didn’t even use their powers – they just blocked his attacks normally, as if this was a sparring match rather than a superpowered fight with a little girl’s life on the line.

There was a whimper from the girl as she tried to crawl away. Lance’s attention darted to her for a split second.

Red punched him in the gut and he doubled over, using Lance’s momentary distraction against him, then calmly walked over to the girl and once again picked her up. With a yell, Lance threw another ice bolt towards them. It missed, instead hitting one of the beams holding up the rest of the building and shattering the already fragile material.

_“The building’s collapsing! Get out of there!”_

There was a rumble from above him as the burning building started to collapse under it’s own weight and Lance bolted, desperately trying to look for Red and their captive as he did so but seeing nothing but smoke. He shot ice without thinking, making a path for himself to get out of or at least putting out some of the fire, and dashed to the exit he’d made.

-

“Lance, I love you man, but this is the third time this week I’ve had to pull you out of a burning building. I told you being a superhero was dangerous, and what did you do? Put on a dumb suit and go running into burning buildings - which is dangerous, by the way, and you should not do because you might die, and then _I_ have to come and save you from being burnt alive because having _ice_ superpowers doesn’t make you immune to _fire-_ ”

“I’m fine, Hunk. Besides, it’s not like I want to run into burning buildings all day, but Red has been kidnapping ordinary people and I need to stop that – you know, like what superheroes do?”

“Oh, yeah. Stopping Red. You’re really great at that.”

“Hunk, buddy, I thought you were on my side!”

“He is on your side-” Pidge looked up from her laptop screen to glare at Lance- “When you’re not running into burning buildings, failing at fighting a supervillain with the exact powers that make yours useless, and burning your leg on the way out.”

“My legs are _fine_.” Lance stood up on both legs to prove his point before promptly falling over.

Pidge snorted. “Yeah, and my name isn’t Pidge Gunderson.”

“I thought your name wasn’t actually Pi-“ Hunk was cut off by a sharp glare “Right, sorry. No calling you Katie until we get your family back. Got it.”

“Why are you posing as a boy anyway?” Lance asked “I get that you’re trying to hide your identity, but why are you hiding your gender too?”

“You need to look at this.” Pidge sighed, turning her laptop to face them. On it were various statistics and graphs that Hunk seemed fascinated with and Lance stared blankly at. “I’ve been tracking every missing person case in the last few months, and every person who’s gone missing was known to have powers of some kind.”

“You mean like superpowers? Like the things we have?”

“Well, not exactly, considering every set of superpowers is different, but-“

Lance turned the screen more towards him and squinted at it. “I thought you didn’t have powers.”

“Pidge doesn’t; Katie does. Also an idiot friend of Pidge’s goes out every night in a mask and cape and shows off his powers to whoever’s watching.”

“Yeah, because an idiot nemesis of mine is going around kidnapping people and I need to stop them!”

“I can make you a gun, if you want,” Hunk interjected “I mean, it’s better than ice powers, and I could make it shoot non-lethal bullets if you want considering you don’t really kill people.”

“Isn’t making a gun illegal?” Pidge asked, not really caring but pretending to.

“You’ve hacked the government before! That’s more illegal than building a gun. Probably.”

“Hunk, you beautiful man! I love you!” Lance dramatically threw himself onto Hunk, who caught him easily since he was more than used to Lance’s antics by that point. Pidge just sighed and muttered something about allo people, which Lance pretended not to hear.

“Yeah man, I love you too.”

“You know what I love? Getting to school on time-” Pidge sighed- “Which we won’t be able to do unless we leave right now.”

-

They made it. Barely. Well, they were a couple of minutes late - enough for them to miss the introduction of the new guy who’d just transferred to their school – but they didn’t get caught, so who cared?

(Hunk, apparently, cared a lot about whether or not they were late, but less than an hour ago he’d offered to illegally build a gun, so Lance figured he just needed to get his priorities straight).

Usually, the chair next to Lance was empty, which was completely fine by him since either Hunk or Pidge would usually sit there whenever they could get away with it, but apparently the teacher had decided to allocate it to the new kid instead. He stared at the book in front of him, blatantly ignoring both the teacher and students around him, and looked like he was pouting which Lance absolutely didn’t find cute.

Actually, scratch that, the guy had a _mullet_. That immediately cast him out of the bone zone. Not that Lance thought he was hot or anything – he was just objectively attractive. _Objectively_.

“What are you looking at?” The guy deadpanned; Lance should not have felt so flustered at that.

“Your mullet looks dumb.” _Honestly is the best policy._

Mullet Dude turned back to his book with an almost inaudible sigh, making it clear that he didn’t want to talk to Lance. Unfortunately for him, Lance was stubborn, and if he could befriend Pidge ‘I’m too busy looking for my family to make friends’ Gunderson, he could hold a conversation with Mr. Grumpy Mullet.

“So,” Lance leaned over towards Mullet Guy’s desk “I’m Lance, what’s your name?”

“Keith.”

“Well, Keith, what brings you here to the much-coveted seat next to me?”

Keith ignored him.

“Uh, hello?” Lance checked the teacher was looking away before waving his hand in front of Keith’s face obnoxiously. Keith’s eyes followed it but he still said nothing. “Keith? Buddy? I’m trying to start a conversation with you.”

“Don’t.”

Lance’s face fell. “Is it because I insulted your mullet?” No answer “It doesn’t look _that_ dumb-“

“Lance,” Keith said sharply, cutting the other off “It’s not about my hair.”

“Then what is it?”

Keith turned away again, focusing his attention on the teacher at the front of the class and making it clear that he didn’t want to elaborate. Lance tried a few more times to grab his attention but to no avail (not that he cared about whether he was friends with the pretty guy sitting next to him of course – at this point it was a matter of pride).

“Do you want to sit with us at lunch?” Lance tried asking. He was ignored – again – but saw Keith glance at him quickly before reverting his attention back to the teacher. “If you don’t answer I’m gonna assume that means ‘yes’.”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Look, I appreciate the offer, but I’m only here for a year.”

“Everyone is - we’re all seniors, remember?” Lance spluttered “That doesn’t give you an excuse not to make friends!”

“Just leave me alone, Lance.”

-

“And then, he tells me he doesn’t want to make friends because we’re all seniors so we’re all only here for a year! Who wants to go for an entire year without _friends?_ ” Lance ranted to Pidge and Hunk as they ate lunch.

“Wait, are you talking about Keith? As in the Keith who apparently got kicked out of his old school?” Hunk asked, looking up from his sandwich to stare bemusedly at Lance.

“That’s just a rumour-“

“Yeah, listen to Pidge – she’s smart!”

“-he’s totally an alien.”

Lance’s face fell. “I take it back.”

“You guys ever seen 21 Jump Street?” Hunk chuckled “Maybe he’s an undercover cop.”

“Yeah, an alien undercover cop who got kicked out of his last school because he thought he was better than everyone else; that sounds about right.” Lance smirked, taking a bite of his lunch and immediately grimacing “Ugh, this tastes like cardboard. Why can’t the school just feed us junk food or something instead of this crap?”

“They do,” Pidge pointed out “It also tastes like shit.”

“School meals are a crime against food,” Hunk agreed, nodding solemnly before taking a bite of his _homemade_ lunch. Lance was debating whether or not to steal his dessert, ignoring the glare he got from Hunk for doing so.

“I’d take your cooking over this junk any day,” Lance groaned “We’re still going to your house after school, right?”

“Yeah, if you can walk there.”

“I told you, my leg’s _fine!_ It’s just a little burn – I can still walk.”

“He’s going to fall over trying to prove us wrong again, isn’t he?” Hunk muttered as Lance stood up and walked a few steps away from their table. Feeling smug at his progress compared to that morning, Lance increased his pace, only for his burned leg to spike in pain causing him to topple over and fall forwards onto whoever was standing in front of him who scrambled to catch him before he fell to the floor.

Lance froze, staring at the person who’d just stopped him from falling over in the middle of the cafeteria. Keith stared back at him, and there was an awkward pause before Lance hurriedly pulled himself out of Keith’s arms and stood up.

Once Lance was properly standing, Keith started to turn away, but Lance grabbed his arm before he could do so. “Have you changed your mind about the lunch thing?”

“Lance, I-“ Keith frowned, looking around the cafeteria. Lance followed his gaze, noting that there were no other free seats “I was just going to sit outside-”

“It’s raining.”

Keith looked conflicted, but begrudgingly agreed to join them – even helping Lance walk back to the table again without falling over despite his protests that he could walk fine on his own. Glaring at the other two in an attempt to get them to not say anything smug, he invited Keith to sit next to him, who begrudgingly agreed to do so.

“Guys, this is Keith-“ Lance began, before being cut off by Pidge.

“We know. You’ve been talking about him for the last hour.” Traitor.

Shrugging off the comment like the cool and level-headed superhero he was, Lance continued trying to include Keith in their conversation. “So, Keith, tell us about yourself!”

“No.”

“Aw, are you shy? Don’t worry, Keithy, I’ll go first. I’m Lance, and I like swimming, cute girls, superheroes-“

“Lance,” Hunk groaned “We all know you like superheroes.”

“Uh, yeah, I’m basically Blue Lion’s biggest fan!” The reason for that, of course, being that he actually was Blue – but Keith didn’t need to know that “So, what about you, Keith? What do you like?”

“Um,” Keith said, looking suddenly nervous once all the attention was focused on him and not at all like the aloof person he’d been just moments ago “Hoverbikes.”

“Is that it?”

“No. I like other things too.”

“Like..?”

“Cryptids, outdoors, lions-“

“You mean like Blue Lion?” Lance asked, smirking, only for it to fall once he noticed Keith’s flinch at the mention of his alter-ego. Shit, had he done something? He couldn’t remember meeting Keith before, especially not as Blue, but something had to have happened for him to react like that.

“Anyway, have you made any new friends here so far? Apart from us of course,” He changed the conversation, earning a small, grateful smile from Keith that absolutely didn’t make his heart do somersaults “Because, just to warn you, stay away from Lotor.”

“Yeah, Nyma too,” Hunk added “She once handcuffed Lance to a tree and stole his lunch money because he flirted with her.”

“Hunk!” Lance hissed “That was one time!”

“Her dog Beezer’s cute though,” Pidge added “I tried to steal it once.”

“Ok,” Keith said, standing up, having finished his food “I need to get to class. Thanks for letting me sit with you.”

“You’re… welcome?” Lance frowned, watching him walk away before turning back to the others “We still have ten minutes.”

Pidge shrugged. “Maybe he just doesn’t want to talk to you.”

“Nah, I think he liked me,” he lied “He’ll come around.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Allo is the opposite of aro btw aka people who experience romantic attraction
> 
> Also Keith is ooc in this but I promise there's a reason


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick note that when talking about Pidge to Keith Lance uses male pronouns because she's undercover as a boy like she is in the Garrison in canon

Lance stared at the screen in front of him, anxiously tapping his foot as he read the various articles he had pulled up, and stopping every few minutes to stuff one of Hunk’s cookies into his mouth. It was boring and he would rather be asleep, but with his burn meaning that he couldn’t go on his nightly patrols like he usually did, he had to focus on helping others in other ways. He was currently researching how to treat burns, while Hunk was looking for more missing person cases and Pidge was searching for more patterns within the data.

His phone buzzed, causing Lance to jump and pull up their group chat.

Bird gremlin: _guys_

Bird gremlin: _look at this_

_Bird gremlin sent a photo_

Hunky: _Pidge why are you awake it’s 1am?!?!?_

Bird gremlin: _its only 1am_

Bird gremlin: _i havent even finished my coffee yet_

Superzero: _Thats a LOT of missing people :OOO_

Superzero: _How does red find the time holy crow_

Superzero: _WTF who changed my name >☹ _

_Superzero changed his name to Cool B)_

Cool B): _any more patterns yet?_

Bird gremlin: _it varies. most ppl in this area go missing in the evening but it changes depending on the place_

Cool B): _So we do more evening patrols?_

Hunky: _Not with your leg._

Cool B): _:’c_

Bird gremlin: _hows your research_

Cool B): _My leg should take 3 WEEKS to heal im so mad_

Hunky: _Oh that’s not that bad_

Cool B): _NOT THAT BAD?!?!?!?_

Hunky: _It could be worse. Your burn’s not a very bad one_

Hunky: _Have you looked up how to treat a burn?_

Cool B): _B)_

Bird gremlin: _is that an answer or just the lack of crimefighting getting to you_

Cool B): _Who do you think I am!?!!!_

Cool B): _It’s both duh_

Cool B): _You use cool water_

Cool B): _The emoticon is also cool bc it has shades_

Bird gremlin: _ugh_

Cool B): _:3c_

Grinning and turning back to his research, Lance was about to open another webpage when his phone buzzed again.

Bird gremlin: _so how are things going with your boyfriend lance_

Cool B): _??????_

Bird gremlin: _keith_

Bird gremlin: _your boyfriend_

Cool B): _He doesn’t even like me :’’’’’’’(_

Bird gremlin: _does he like anyone_

Cool B): _Probably not_

Cool B): _Also he’s not my boyfriend ___

Bird gremlin: _hes a boy whos your friend_

Cool B): _I don’t think he has any friends_

Bird gremlin: _edgy_

Bird gremlin: _you should be his friend_

Bird gremlin: _so you can be gay for him_

Cool B): _I’m straight >>>☹_

Bird gremlin: _no youre not_

Hunky: _No you’re not ___

____-_ _ _ _

____After staying up for most of the night arguing for an embarrassingly long amount of time over his sexuality with Pidge and Hunk, Lance was half-asleep when he dragged himself into class the next morning. He was running on three hours of sleep and the energy drink he had ten minutes prior, and the caffeine had yet to kick in._ _ _ _

____Once again, Keith sat next to him in class, and once again he ignored him when he tried to start a conversation with him. Lance thought they had bonded yesterday, but apparently Keith had forgotten about it, and he acted like the same lonely jerk he was before. If Lance didn’t remember the awkward Keith who was almost opening up to him at lunch yesterday, he would have assumed that he was just naturally an asshole._ _ _ _

____He should not have been so focused on Keith of all people, but Lance didn’t need to be an awesome superhero to know something was up with him. _Nobody _\- not even introverted, awkward Keith – enjoyed not having friends, and no matter what he said, Lance was not about to let him go the whole year without making one.___ _ _ _

______Unfortunately, befriending someone as stubborn as Keith was harder than it looked. Lance had tried everything: inviting him to sit with them at lunch again, inviting him to hang out with him, Hunk, and Pidge after school, or even just trying to start a friendly conversation, but nothing was working; Keith just shrugged him off like they’d never spoken before._ _ _ _ _ _

______“Let me guess: you’re either thinking about your burn or Keith.” Pidge’s voice snapped him out of his thoughts._ _ _ _ _ _

______“What? No! I was just-“_ _ _ _ _ _

______“You’re making that pouty face you do when thinking about something that annoys you,” Hunk explained, cutting Lance off “Oh man, I haven’t seen that since Nyma dumped you.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“I was too good for Nyma anyway.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“I kept saying there was something shifty about her-“_ _ _ _ _ _

______“We’re gonna kick her ass in gym next period,” Pidge interrupted, cutting off Hunk before his ‘I told you so’ rant he did every time Lance’s disaster of a hook up with Nyma was bought up._ _ _ _ _ _

______“By ‘we’ you mean not Lance, right?”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“But-“_ _ _ _ _ _

______“If you can’t be a superhero until your leg is healed, you can’t do other exercise either,” Hunk stated “It’s for your own good.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“But if I can’t do sport how am I supposed to beat Keith! He’s already become the best at every other subject – I’m not letting him defeat me in gym too.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“Well maybe he won’t be participating as well.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______-_ _ _ _ _ _

______The good news? Keith didn’t participate in gym class due to ‘medical issues’._ _ _ _ _ _

______The bad news? That meant that Lance couldn’t destroy him at whatever sport they were doing once his leg healed._ _ _ _ _ _

______Regardless, they were both stuck on the sidelines as they watched their classmates run around the pitch. While Lance knew that despite their appearances, Hunk and Pidge were probably second and third best in their class (he was the best, of course) and would probably win any game they played, he watched them intently, cheering them on whenever possible to either give them a bit more confidence (Hunk) or annoy them incessantly (Pidge). Whenever the class became boring, or his friends we’re playing, he turned to Keith._ _ _ _ _ _

______“So how come you’re not playing?” Lance tried to make small talk._ _ _ _ _ _

______“Medical problems,” Keith said simply, looking at the lesson in front of him but not really paying attention._ _ _ _ _ _

______While they both we’re actually going to be doing any exercise, the two had still been made to change into their gym kits, and Keith was currently sporting a simple white T-shirt and red shorts, which showed off his muscles; Lance caught himself staring at them and forced himself to look away._ _ _ _ _ _

______“Oh yeah? Well that’s good because I’d totally beat you.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“The only thing you can beat is participating.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______Lance gasped, exaggerating as he did so. “Keith! I don’t need to be burned_ again. _”__ _ _ _ _

______“What?” Keith paled slightly, causing Lance to drop his dramatics._ _ _ _ _ _

______“Relax, it’s just an expression.” Keith stared blankly at him “When someone insults someone else really well it’s called a burn.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______They fell into an uncomfortable silence and Lance turned back to watching Hunk and Pidge. The two had been sorted into different teams and were currently saying their heartfelt goodbyes to each other like they were both travelling to opposite ends of the universe rather than just about to face off against each other in a gym lesson._ _ _ _ _ _

______“Hey, Keith,” Lance muttered, nudging his classmate to get his attention and pointing to Hunk and Pidge “See those two?”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“Those are your friends, right?”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“Yeah, they are going to _dominate_ this game.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“They don’t look-“ Keith cut himself off as he watched Lance’s friends play. Pidge would dart through the crowds of people, using her small size to her advantage and passing them before they could even process how quickly she had moved, while Hunk used his large size to his advantage, barrelling past the other team like they weren’t there. If they weren’t on separate teams, the game would probably be over before it even began._ _ _ _ _ _

______“Aren’t they awesome?” Lance watched the game intently, focusing on his friends. Before Keith could reply, he was interrupted by Lance cheering as loudly as possible as Hunk scored a point. Hunk grinned at him and then turned back to the game._ _ _ _ _ _

______“Hunk’s my best friend,” Lance explained “He’s the greatest friend you could ever have; he’s really kind _and_ talented. We go to his house most days after school and he sometimes cooks – his food is so good, you _have_ to try it sometime – and he’s a really great engineer too. And Pidge is super smart – he’s like one of those guys in movies that can hack anything, but he doesn’t do that because that’s illegal, obviously.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“And they’re both good at basketball.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“Yeah. Pidge is better at soccer though, since he doesn’t have to be tall to play it. I’m better than both of them though.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“Obviously,” Keith agreed sarcastically._ _ _ _ _ _

______“Hey! I’m better than you – you can’t even play!”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“If I could, I’d beat you.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“Nope, I’m taller than you so I have an advantage.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“We’re the same height.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“Nuh-uh, I’m taller than you by an inch.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“An inch.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“It still counts!”_ _ _ _ _ _

______While they were bickering, Pidge had gotten the ball and was sprinting towards the other end of the court so quickly that she almost made three people fall over. Turning his attention away from Keith, Lance cheered at the top of his lungs as she scored a point, and she stuck her tongue out at him._ _ _ _ _ _

______“Wow, Pidge is…”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“Dangerous? Amazing? Probably able to channel the energy he didn’t spend on growing into kicking ass?”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“I don’t think that’s possible.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“I don’t think _you’re_ possible.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“That doesn’t make sense.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“ _You_ don’t make sense!”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“You need to work on your comebacks.” Lance repeated that last sentence in a mocking tone, which Keith almost smiled at._ _ _ _ _ _

______They settled into another silence, with Lance once again focusing on his friends and Keith looking pensive._ _ _ _ _ _

______“You really care about your friends, don’t you?” Keith suddenly asked._ _ _ _ _ _

______“Yeah, of course I do!” Lance frowned “Do you have any friends?”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“I have my brother.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“That’s it?” Keith didn’t reply “I’m not trying to befriend you just to boost my ego, you know – I actually care about you.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“We barely know each other.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“Yeah, because we’re not friends yet.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“Lance, thank you for caring, but-“_ _ _ _ _ _

______“Nope, I’m not letting you be a loner for the rest of your life. How about we just try it, and if it doesn’t work out then it doesn’t work and you can live out the rest of your life as a lonely hermit living in a shack in the desert or whatever.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______Keith sighed, “That’s something my brother would say.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“He thinks you’d hide from society in the desert?”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“No, the other thing.” His voice went softer “He’d want me to try it too.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“Are you going to? Because a friendship with the one and only Lance is-“_ _ _ _ _ _

“Lance, shut up.” Despite him interrupting Lance, Keith was smiling. _Smiling_. “I’ll be your friend.”


	3. Chapter 3

“Keith, buddy, my man, you are the worst cook I've ever seen,” Lance huffed, staring at the mess in front of them which was supposed to be a cake but looked more like burnt vomit.

“I followed the recipe!”

“Really? You did _everything_ the recipe told you to do? You followed it _exactly?”_ He prodded at one of the lumps in it, recoiling as he discovered it was gooey “I don't think you did.”

__“Does it need to be cooked more?”_ _

__Lance scoffed, “Cooked more? It's blacker than your emo fingerless gloves and maybe even more depressing.”_ _

__“Then what's wrong?”_ _

“What's _wrong_ is that you have disgraced Mama's kitchen with your terrible baking skills!”

__

__“I've eaten worse.”_ _

__

__“Of course you have. Well, my dearest baking disaster, you may live off toxic sludge but _I_ have standards.” He rooted around in his pockets for some money and showed it to Keith. “We're ordering pizza.”_ _

__

__-_ _

__

__“So you're telling me,” Lance said, sceptical, “That there's this fluffy dude with wings hanging around West Virginia even though he's never seen and people can't have wings.”_ _

__

__“Mothman’s _real!”_ Keith protested “The wings are just his superpower-”_ _

__

__“Yeah, because being a bird is clearly a good power,” Lance scoffed, taking a bite of his (now cold) pizza. The television in front of them had been paused for the last twenty minutes as he listened to Keith ramble about cryptids._ _

__

__“He's a _moth.”__ _

__

__“Being a furry then.”_ _

__

__“He could just be an alien, or a new species, or-”_ _

__

__“Right, right. Let me guess, you're also an alien furry - that mullet _doesn't_ seem human…”_ _

__

__“Just because I believe the government's hiding aliens, doesn't mean-”_ _

__

“You think the government's hiding _aliens?”_

____

__

____

__-_ _

____

__

____

__Lance pouted as he watched Pidge and Keith chatting from the other side of the room, where he sat with Hunk. While his two friends’ first encounters had been brief and awkward thanks to them both being antisocial introverts with nothing better to do than never leave their laptop and listen to emo country music respectively (he hadn't even known country music could be emo before he met Keith - he thought it was just tractors and banjos. _De madre,_ his taste in music was bad), the two were almost inseparable as soon as Lance accidentally bought up conspiracy theories._ _

____

__

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__“She's stolen my friend,” Lance whined at a disinterested Hunk._ _

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__

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__“Wow,” Hunk said with a chuckle, ignoring the complete and utter _betrayal_ that had just occurred “You have it bad.”_ _

____

__

____

__“No I don't! I just-”_ _

____

__

____

__“You're jealous~”_ _

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__

____

__“I am not jealous! I don't even like guys - I'm straight! I like girls, and boobs, and-” He paused for a moment, trying to think of something else that he was attracted to “-not guys!”_ _

____

__

____

__“Unless it's Keith.”_ _

____

__

____

__“Keith’s hair is too ugly for me to date him.”_ _

____

__

____

__“Ok, if you say so. Are you two still going on that date next weekend?”_ _

____

__

____

__“We’re just going to the cinema together - it’s not a date!”_ _

____

__

____

__-_ _

____

__

____

__“How long has it been now?” Lance groaned, inspecting his leg for the third time that day “It feels like a year.”_ _

____

__

____

__“It’s been two weeks.”_ _

____

__

____

__“It’s been _forever_.”_ _

____

__

____

__“How did you get that burn anyway?” Keith asked. He’d started going to their after-school gatherings more now that him and Lance were officially friends, but they’d decided not to tell him about Lance being a superhero since it seemed to make him tense every time the subject was mentioned. Yes, he felt bad about lying to his friend, but it was better that than Keith isolating himself again because his only friends other than his brother triggered some bad memories._ _

____

__

____

__“I-” Lance’s mind drew a blank as he tried to come up with an excuse that would both make sense and make him look really cool._ _

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__

____

__“He spilled my coffee over himself,” Pidge lied effortlessly, sending a smirk in his direction “And now he owes me another cup of coffee.”_ _

____

__

____

__“No I don’t!” Lance spluttered “That’s a lie and you know i-” He was abruptly cut off when he noticed Hunk’s glare at him and for a moment panicked that his entire cover had been blown and he was about to lose one of his best friends._ _

____

__

____

__Next to him, Keith was trying to stifle his laughter._ _

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__

____

__Giving himself a quick mental pep talk that no, Keith had not just realised Pidge had been lying and yes, this meant that he had to swallow his pride and buy Pidge some coffee later otherwise she would never stop bringing it up (especially around Keith so Lance couldn’t deny it), Lance mock-glared at Keith. “What are you laughing at, Mullet?”_ _

____

__

____

__-_ _

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__

____

__Keith had to leave earlier than the other three, giving them time to talk about Lance’s superhero alter ego. Honestly, Lance had expected the same old spiel - you can’t go on patrol until your leg heals properly, Red has been burning down more buildings again, more people with superpowers are going missing - so when Hunk pulled a package out from under his bed he had to pause just to process what he’d just been given. True to his word, Hunk had used his amazing engineering skills to make Lance a gun to use against Red._ _

____

__

____

__“Wow, Hunk this is amazing! Does it work? Can I try it?”_ _

____

__

____

__“Oh, yeah, it’s pretty cool.” He motioned for Lance to pass it back to him and pressed a button on the side of it which caused it to switch from a regular gun to a sniper rifle. Lance stared at it in awe, peering down the scope and looking around the room through it._ _

____

__

____

__“I helped with that bit,” Pidge added “But Hunk made most of it.”_ _

____

__

____

__“So does this mean I’m un-grounded from being a superhero?”_ _

____

__

____

__“For the last time, you’re not grounded, just injured. But, yes you are.” Hunk sighed “You’re not allowed to go after Red until you’re completely healed though.”_ _

____

__

____

__“But-”_ _

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__

____

__“We don’t want you to die, Lance.”_ _

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__

____

__“Ok, fine. I love you guys too.” Lance started searching through Hunk’s room, quickly finding the hidden compartment where he kept his super suit. “Pidge, turn away; I want to preserve your innocence.”_ _

____

__

____

__Pidge snorted, “What innocence?”_ _

____

__

____

__“I still think that cape is a bad idea,” Hunk grumbled._ _

____

__

____

__“I think it makes me look cool.”_ _

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__

____

__“Clearly you’ve never watched The Incredibles.”_ _

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__

____

__He finished putting on his suit and modelled it for his friends (much to Pidge’s chagrin) before grabbing his gun and exiting through the window._ _

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__

____

__He had missed this: the feeling of freedom from donning his suit and mask and barrelling through the city. Adrenaline buzzed through his veins, electrified by the city lights below him, and he went from street to street looking for any crimes or people that needed his help. The city was quiet, like it used to be before Red appeared, and he only had to stop to occasionally give directions or chat to a couple of his excited fans (who were, sadly, diminishing in number every time he had his ass handed to him by Red)._ _

____

__

____

__It was about midnight when Lance started to slow down his patrol. While he would still stay up for another few hours yet, fewer people were awake later in the night so fewer people needed his help, and he allowed himself to relax a bit, taking in the scenery of the park he had stopped in. Surprisingly, there were still a few people meandering around the area, but it was mostly empty._ _

____

__

____

__He sat down on a nearby bench, and relaxed for a few moments before noticing a familiar mullet hurrying through the park. Keith noticed him at the same time and froze as they locked eyes. Remembering his aversion to superheroes, Lance gave him a small smile and looked away, which seemed to make him relax a little. To his surprise, Keith walked over and awkwardly sat down next to him._ _

____

__

____

__“Hey man,” Lance said when Keith stayed silent._ _

____

__

____

__A pause. “Hi.”_ _

____

__

____

__“How come you’re up so late? Don’t you have school tomorrow?”_ _

____

__

____

__“Just… walking around.”_ _

____

__

____

__“You like the outdoors?”_ _

____

__

____

__“Yeah, it’s quiet - especially at night.”_ _

____

__

____

__“Sounds like you’re living in the wrong place if you like quiet places so much.”_ _

____

__

____

__“I don’t have a choice.”_ _

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__

____

___Is that because of his parents?_ Lance thought _I don’t think I’ve met them before. Heck, I haven’t even been to his house.__ _

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__

____

__“Where have you been recently?” Keith’s voice snapped him out of his thoughts “You disappeared for the past few weeks. Were you hurt?”_ _

____

__

____

__“Yeah, just a little,” He flashed a cheesy grin at his friend “I’m fine now though.”_ _

____

__

____

__“That’s good; I was worried.” He paused “Thank you for fighting Red.”_ _

____

__

____

__“You’re welcome? I never really win, but-”_ _

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__

____

__“You try - that’s more than most people do. You’ll beat him one day.”_ _

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__

____

__Keith’s smile made his heart do somersaults, and at that moment under the stars with Keith he felt so euphoric that he could take on Red with both hands tied behind his back. A blush crept onto his face and he desperately hoped it wasn’t visible in the moonlight, but thankfully Keith seemed distracted and didn’t notice._ _

____

__

____

___Have Keith’s eyes always been that purple?_ _ _

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__

____

__“Blue?” Keith asked quietly “I-” He shook his head, snapping them both back to reality “I’m sorry. I have to go.”_ _

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__

____

__-_ _

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__

____

__Lance did not have a crush on Keith. Nope. No way. Nada. He knew what crushes felt like, having had one on almost every pretty girl he saw, and the way he felt about Keith was nothing like that; he didn’t stutter and blush around him, nor did he feel the need to drown him in pick up lines, he just felt normal. Sure, he felt affection towards him, but he was a loving person – there was nothing romantic about it._ _

____

__

____

__So why did his heart speed up when he saw Keith the next morning? Why did his breath catch in his throat and blood rise to his cheeks? Why did he stare for a bit longer than usual and have to force himself to look away?_ _

____

__

____

__“Did Keith wash his hair?” He absentmindedly asked Hunk “Something looks off about him.”_ _

____

__

____

__“No, it just looks normal.”_ _

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__

____

__“I thought you hated his hair,” Pidge added._ _

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__

____

__“No, it’s just-“_ _

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__

____

__“You’re finally realising you have a crush on Keith? Because his hair’s even greasier than yesterday and nothing has changed about his appearance.”_ _

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__

____

__“Pidge, for the last time, I am straight.”_ _

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__

____

__“Ok then. If you realise you’re not you owe me $10.”_ _

____

__

____

__“Deal.”_ _

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__

____

__“If your bisexual awakening is related to Keith in any way you owe me $15.”_ _

____

__

____

__“You’re on.”_ _

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__

____

__“Hi Keith!” Hunk’s cheerful greeting absolutely did not cause Lance to panic over whether or not Keith had just heard what him and Pidge were just saying, but he wasn’t acting like he had, so Lance didn’t mention it._ _

____

__

____

__“Hi.” Keith was smiling at them all, and Lance wasn’t sure how much more his heart could take._ _

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__

____

__“I just remembered I need to do something. With Pidge,” Hunk said, hurrying Pidge away, leaving Keith and Lance alone. Lance sent a glare after him – he was not subtle._ _

____

__

____

__“Did you do the math homework?” He asked “I was planning on copying off Pidge and Hunk but they just ran off.”_ _

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__

____

__“No, I didn’t.”_ _

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__

____

__“What? But you get straight As!”_ _

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__

____

__Keith shrugged, “I never do homework.”_ _

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__

____

__“Never? Not at all? But you’re top of every class you’re in!” Keith just stared at him, unperturbed “Fine, I guess I’ll just have to do it now.” Sitting down on a nearby table, he pulled his homework out of his bag. To his surprise, Keith did the same. “I thought you said you didn’t do homework.”_ _

____

__

____

__“Yeah, but you’re doing it.” They continued for a moment, writing instead of talking. Lance would not admit to sneaking a look at Keith’s answers every now and then if he couldn’t figure something out, but his pride would not let Keith ‘I never do homework’ Kogane finish before him so it was probably justified._ _

____

__

____

__“You’re not copying my answers,” He remarked, pretty certain he was ahead in the race he’d just created._ _

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__

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__“I don’t need to – I’ve already finished it.”_ _

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__

____

__Lance scrambled to grab Keith’s sheet of paper, and sure enough, all the answers had been filled in. “How..? Whatever, I’m copying these – this doesn’t prove anything.”_ _

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__

____

__Keith blinked, “I never said it did.”_ _

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__

____

__“Yeah, yeah. Man, how are you so good at this? I got half my answers wrong.” Lance groaned “I should not have stayed up so late last night.”_ _

____

__

____

__“How late did you stay up?”_ _

____

__

____

__“Until about 3am.”_ _

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__

____

__“What we’re you doing up so late? It’s dangerous!”_ _

____

__

____

__“You do the exact same thing!”_ _

____

__

____

__“That’s different!”_ _

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__

____

__“Yeah, because I’m doing something good and you’re wandering around in the middle of the night even though there’s a supervillain on the loose!”_ _

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__

____

__“What make’s you any safer than I am? Knowing you, you’d try and flirt with him and get yourself kidnapped!”_ _

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__

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__“I know what I’m doing, Keith!” Lance’s voice dropped to a low hiss as he turned away “I’ll see you in class.”_ _

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__

____

__-_ _

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__

____

__He had been avoiding Keith all day. He knew it was petty, and the right thing to do was apologise, but what did Keith know about his staying up so late? If anything, Keith was the one in danger – he had no powers! At least Lance could defend himself, along with any other idiots who stayed out that late for no good reason and the poor souls that Red targeted._ _

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__

____

__A small, rational part of his brain told him that there was no way for Keith to know that. Lance ignored it._ _

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__

____

__As usual, Lance had gone to Hunk’s house after school, but this time Keith hadn’t joined them and Pidge had been busy, so it was just Lance and Hunk. They were home alone because both of Hunk’s moms worked late, which would have been great for them if they were focused on superheroics, but at that moment Lance wasn’t in the mood for it._ _

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__

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__“Are you still mad about that argument you had with Keith this morning?” Hunk asked, noticing Lance’s uncharacteristic silence._ _

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__

____

__“So what if I am?”_ _

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__

____

__“I mean, I was just wondering if you wanted to test out that gun I made? You know, because you need it for fighting Red and you haven’t used it yet.”_ _

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__

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__Lance forced himself to calm down slightly, “Ok, let’s do that.”_ _

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__

____

__Behind Hunk’s house was a forest. It was bland and no-one ever went in it, but it was perfect for target practise so long as Hunk’s invention didn’t make too much noise. Lance hadn’t visited it in years, preferring to spend more time with Hunk and Pidge indoors rather than outside, but he had fond memories of playing there with Hunk as a child._ _

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__

____

__“I’ve got it!” Hunk yelled, hurrying towards Lance with the gun in his hand and passing it to Lance. It was lighter than he expected, and the white and blue metal fit comfortably in his hands. He found the switch on the side that turned it into a sniper rifle._ _

____

__

____

__“You see that twig over there?” Lance asked, peering down the scope at it.”_ _

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__

____

__“Where?” Lance pointed “Oh, there. That’s pretty far away.”_ _

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__

____

__He forced himself to concentrate, and pulled the trigger. A bright pulse of energy shot out of the gun and hit the centre of the twig, snapping it in two. A wave of pride washed over him._ _

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__

____

__“Wow,” Hunk marvelled._ _

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__

____

__“Turns out all those years spent playing video games didn’t go to waste after all.”_ _

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__

____

__“Yeah, I guess not.”_ _

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__

____

__Hunk left, and Lance focused on improving his aim. Not only was it useful for defeating Red, but he found it surprisingly therapeutic – it let him focus on his goal rather than worrying about the argument with Keith, and every gunshot quelled his anger a little more until it was almost completely gone._ _

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__

____

__He lowered his gun once he noticed his hands start to shake, and blinked as he realised the forest had become a lot darker than it was before. How long had he been practising?_ _

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__

____

__-_ _

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__

____

__After spending what he later found out was three hours in the forest practising, Lance had gone back into Hunk’s house and had a much-needed break before heading home. It was already late when he had left, and he was hurrying home when he crossed paths with Keith again. They stopped to talk to each other, but it was a moment before either of them said anything._ _

____

__

____

__“I’m sorry for yelling at you earlier,” Lance said “And I’m sorry for getting angry at you.”_ _

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__

____

__Keith furrowed his brow, pausing for a moment as he contemplated what to say. Lance could only wait, tense. “I’m sorry too,” He finally admitted “But why are you out so late again? I keep telling you it’s dangerous.”_ _

____

__

____

__“And _I _keep telling you I can handle myself.”___ _

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__

____

____“Yeah, but you don’t have any powers!”_ _ _ _

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__

____

____“Neither do you! What makes you think you’re safe from all of this when you’re putting yourself in danger as much as I am?”_ _ _ _

____

__

____

____“I’ve already lost Shiro - I don’t want to lose you!” Keith screamed, staring up at Lance with tear-filled eyes, and it stunned Lance into silence. His friend let out a shaky sob, and Lance pulled him into his arms, letting him cry it out._ _ _ _

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__

____

____They were hugging, he realised, but it wasn’t intimate – it was raw and vulnerable. Tears soaked his shirt, but he refused to be the first to pull away. Keith’s crying faded into quiet sniffs, and Lance pulled him tighter._ _ _ _

____

__

____

____“I’m sorry about your shirt.”_ _ _ _

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__

____

____“You don’t need to apologise. Are you feeling better?”_ _ _ _

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__

____

____Keith tightened his arms round Lance, burying his face into his shoulder. “A bit. Thank you.”_ _ _ _

____

__

____

____“Did you lose your brother because of Red?”_ _ _ _

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__

____

____“Yeah,” He mumbled, his words muffled by Lance’s shirt._ _ _ _

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__

____

____“Pidge lost her brother too,” Lance said solemnly “We’ve been trying to get him back. We can do the same for Shiro.”_ _ _ _

____

__

____

____“Don’t, please. I don’t want you to get hurt because of me.”_ _ _ _

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__

____

____“Ok, I won’t,” He lied, making a promise to himself to do whatever it took to find Keith’s brother._ _ _ _

____

__

____

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The plot thickens :0


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this update took so long. I haven't had much time to write since school started so updates will probably be slower :"D

A small building on the outskirts of the city erupted into flame, collapsing in on itself as its structure burned away and smothering whoever was inside. Lance stood nearby, listening intently to Pidge through his earpiece as he looked through the scope on his gun, scanning the house for anyone inside.

_”Apparently the family that lives there went out for dinner about an hour ago so the house should be empty. Any sign of Red?”_

“Not yet.”

_”Pidge? Are you sure your BLIP-tech is working?”_ Hunk asked _“Because it’s registering two people down there.”_

_”Red and their target! Shit, Lance you have to get down there.”_

“On it!” He jumped down, heart racing as he shot ice at some nearby flames, creating a path. “Where are they?”

_”Near the back.”_

Pidge was right, if the scream was anything to go by. He hurried in that direction, noticing two figures silhouetted against the fire and identifying one as Red. The other seemed to have hydrokinesis, so she was holding her own against Red’s fire, but her water supply was running out as it was evaporated, and she was fighting a losing battle.

“Hey there, mind if I step in?” He asked, trying to sound as suave as possible “You guys seem like you need to chill out.”

He quickly assessed the situation: the terrain was on fire, making his ice useless, and the house was charred and on the verge of collapsing – he’d have to avoid that unless he wanted a repeat of last time. The girl looked determined, but unless he got her out of there quickly she wouldn’t last much longer.

Instead of firing an ice attack like he usually would, he instead pulled out his gun and fired a couple of shots. They missed, but they forced Red to stumble backwards, giving Lance an opportunity to place himself between the two.

“Run!” He hissed to the girl “I’ll hold them off!”

“I’m helping you.”

“No, you’re not. Run!”

She used her powers to pick up some water from the ground next to her and used it to douse some nearby flames. “My powers are more effective against their fire. Let me help you.”

He paused. “Fine, but be careful. What’s your name?”

“Plaxum.”

“Ok Plaxum, you work on extinguishing the house while I take on Red.”

“On it.”

He shot a blast of ice at Red which melted into water before it touched then, but Plaxum picked it up before it hit the ground, and he continued his icy assault, giving Plaxum enough time to douse the flames as much as possible. Red was panicking slightly: their eyes widened, their body tensed, their attacks became more rapid. Without their terrain advantage, they were desperate, and Lance was about to teach them the consequences of being a supervillain.

“What’s wrong, hotshot?” He teased “You getting a bit cold?”

Before he was able to shoot them, Red charged, wielding a pillar of fire like it was a sword, and Lance just barely threw up a wall of ice to defend himself. Red cut through it, and Lance was forced to bring up his gun to shield himself.

Plaxum extinguished the fire sword and Lance darted backwards, readying another shot.

_”Remember, we want them alive. The gunshot shouldn’t be fatal, but it can cause some damage so be careful.”_

He aimed his gun at Red’s shoulder. They prepared another attack.

Lance shot. Red rushed forward.

Instead of hitting Red’s shoulder, where it would have incapacitated one arm but not caused any fatal damage, Lance watched in horror as his attack headed directly towards Red’s face. They seemed to come to a realisation at the same time, and were able to tilt their head slightly, causing it to tear the bandanna covering their face, but not harming them. He didn’t know whether to be disappointed or relieved.

Red reached a hand up to stop the bandanna falling down and exposing their face, and Lance took this as an opportunity to use his ice to try to freeze them in place, but they realised what he was doing and melted it before it reached them.

They were outnumbered, outmatched, and relying on a flimsy, broken bandanna to conceal their identity. They were doomed, so - as Plaxum finished extinguishing the last of their advantage - they did something surprising: they ran.

“Hey!” Lance screamed, bolting after them “Come back! You will _not_ take this victory away from me.”

Behind him, Plaxum was following, but Red was rapidly speeding away from them both across the rooftops of the city and Lance could barely keep up. He shot ice at them, but it was easily dodged and he couldn’t aim well with how fast they were both moving.

“I’ll try and cut them off,” Plaxum yelled from behind him, and out of the corner of his eye he saw her darting away.

Lance surged forwards and pummelled Red with a barrage of ice attacks. Few met their target, and those that did froze areas like their back, meaning that their running wasn’t impaired. It melted off their back quickly as they harnessed their powers, but a counterattack was impossible unless they turned around and fought.

In a final attempt to slow them down, Lance shot ice towards their feet. It froze the ground beneath them. They slipped before they could realise what was going happening, and fell off the rooftop.

Lance cursed under his breath and rushed after them. Red had landed in a small alley and was battered from the fall, but otherwise unharmed (which shouldn’t have been possible considering they were five stories up, but he could shoot ice from his fingers so who was he to judge?). They lay in their back with an indiscernible look on their face and their bandanna all but falling off, clutching it desperately and holding it over their face.

“So, the hunter has become the hunted,” Lance taunted as he walked forward, stopping just in front of Red. They slowly pushed themself to their feet, shaking a little as they did so. He switched his tone from playful to serious. “Are you going to come quietly or do I need to push you off another building?”

Even battered, bruised, and mere seconds away from having their identity revealed, Red didn’t speak. Lance reached up to grab their bandanna.

He was interrupted by a pair of lips on his, and his brain short-circuited long enough for Red to disappear.

“What the fuck?” He whispered to himself after he processed what just happened “What the _fuck?”_

Unable to follow Red since he hadn’t seen what direction they went in, he was left alone in the alley with his thoughts. Red had just kissed him as a distraction, right? There was no way his enemy had any sort of feelings for him – especially not romantic ones. Ugh, he would be trying to shake off the feeling of their lips for hours.

Before he could dwell on how close he was to finally discovering his arch-nemesis’ identity, he was interrupted by the sound of footsteps behind him. He spun around, half-expecting to see Red’s smug face, but instead came face-to-face with a woman.

The pink, blue, and white supersuit and matching mask she wore designated her as a superhero, but Lance didn’t recognise her. He met her gaze, her bright blue eyes drilling into him with enough power to make him weak at the knees before he pulled himself together – he was a lousy hero if one really hot person who could probably kick his ass made him fall apart.

“Who are you?”

“My name is Allura,” She spoke with a posh, British accent “I’m here because I’ve been tracking Galra activity and it’s most frequent in this city.”

“Galra?”

“Yes, the underground criminal organisation that has been targeting people with superpowers.” He stared at her blankly “You’ve been chasing one of their soldiers for months.”

It clicked. “ _What?_ Wait, that… actually makes sense. So Red’s been working for an underground organisation hellbent on kidnapping people?”

“Lance,” He tensed at the mention of his name “As much as I’d hate to drag you into something so dangerous, you have the most experience fighting the Galra in this city.”

“How do you know my name? What do you want from me?”

Allura handed him what looked like a business card. “This is my address. My mission is to take down the Galra, but I can’t do it alone. If you wish to help, please visit me.” Her eyes darted to his earpiece “And bring your friends. If you would prefer to focus on smaller crimes, do not come, and I will do whatever I can to ensure that the Galra do not target you or your loved ones.”

And then she was gone, leaving Lance dumbfounded and with the sickening feeling that he’d bitten off more than he could chew.

-

He was all but home when he noticed Keith walking past his house. The guy looked exhausted: his hair was messy, he was dragging his feet, and walked at such a slow pace that he barely looked like he could stand upright.

“Keith!” Lance called him over “Are you okay? You look awful.”

Keith grunted and mumbled something that sounded like a blatant lie – he was clearly _not_ okay.

“Is your house nearby?” Keith shook his head. “Then you’re staying with me tonight. Come on, Mama won’t notice as long as you leave before six.”

Lance grabbed Keith’s hand and pulled him towards his front door, fumbling with his keys as he unlocked it. Usually he would do the stereotypical rebellious teenager thing and use the tree that was conveniently placed next to his bedroom window to get in and out of the house at night, but Keith was so exhausted he could barely walk, let alone make enough noise to wake up his parents, so they went in the old-fashioned way.

“You can sleep in my bed,” He whispered once they made it into his bedroom “I think I have some spare sheets somewhere so I’ll sleep on the floor.”

“I’ll sleep on the floor,” Keith protested, collapsing on the bed anyway.

“Nope. No way. You are _way_ too tired to sleep on the floor.”

“Why don’t we both just sleep on the bed?”

“What?” But-“ A blush crept up his face. He turned around, praying that Keith hadn’t seen it.

“There’s room. I don’t hog the blankets.”

“Fine, but don’t tell Pid-“ He turned to face Keith, who had moved sideways so he only took up half the bed and had his head buried in the pillow “Are you going to sleep _now?_ ”

“Yeah?” The pillow muffled his voice slightly.

“Not without wearing pyjamas you’re not. Come on, I’ll lend you a pair.”

“I can sleep in my clothes.”

“No you can’t.”

“Yes I can.”

“No you can’t.”

“I’m sleeping now.”

“No, you’re not.” Lance made a point of storming towards Keith, grabbing him by the ankles, and trying to dump him off the bed. Instead of landing on the floor so that Lance could prove a point, Keith instead kicked his legs up out of his grasp and gave him a cheeky grin, prompting Lance to dive towards him and they wrestled on the bed together - pushing and shoving until they both landed on the heap of discarded blankets on the floor in a tangled, laughing mess.

“Get off me,” Keith mumbled, the grin on his face betraying him. Whining in protest, Lance allowed himself to be pushed off, and they both lay side-by-side, breathless.

“So do you sleep in your clothes all the time or only around other people?”

“Don’t try to convince me to wear your pyjamas.”

“Relax, Keith – it’s not like I’m going to watch you get changed.” He covered his eyes with his hands. “See? I’m not looking.”

There was a resigned sigh and light footsteps as Keith stood up and walked across the room and started rummaging through his drawers. Lance waited in silence until he had finished, then – once Keith told him it was ok to do so – uncovered his eyes.

“See? That wasn’t so hard, was it?”

“It feels weird.”

“Wait, do you seriously sleep in your clothes?”

“Yeah?”

He sighed dramatically. “Every time I think you can’t disappoint me further, Mullet, you manage to prove me wrong.”

“You have at least six different celebrity-themed pairs of underwear.”

“You can’t be disappointed with _art_ , Keith.”

As Keith lay back on the bed, Lance felt a fond smile creep onto his face, and his gaze lingered on him for slightly longer than necessary. If Pidge and Hunk noticed him doing that he’d never hear the end of it, but screw it - Keith looked cute bundled up under his sheets, hair messy and starkly contrasting with the white pillow, eyes tightly shut as if he was trying to force himself to fall asleep quicker (and knowing him? He probably was). For the first time since Lance had met him, he looked relaxed.

And adorable. And really, really hot.

Shit, he owed Pidge fifteen dollars.

“I know you’re staring at me, Lance,” Keith mumbled, muffled by the sheets that (adorably) covered the lower half of his face.

“Yeah, yeah. Like I’d stare at that mullet for longer than necessary,” Lance teased, getting into the bed and suddenly hyperaware of how close they were. Next to him, Keith had closed his eyes again and was asleep a few minutes later, but Lance was struggling to do the same.

He was sleeping in the same bed as Keith. He was sleeping in the same bed as Keith _who he had a crush on._ He hadn’t even thought he liked girls, but somehow his mysterious, emo friend who could spend hours talking about conspiracy theories and had an _awful_ skincare routine had made him realise he wasn’t nearly as straight as he thought he was.

Now that he thought about it, he could list more and more boys he’d been attracted to throughout his life that he’d just passed off as friendship, jealousy, or admiration - heck, he’d probably even had a crush on Hunk at one point! Suddenly a lot of things that he’d just ignored or forgotten about were making a lot of sense, like the one kid in middle school who he thought he hated because whenever he saw him his heart sped up and his face went red, or the time when he stayed up until midnight watching Avatar: The Last Airbender purely to watch the episodes with Zuko in them.

Lance was bi, and not nearly as shocked about this revelation as he should have been.

Diverting his attention to Keith, who had rolled onto his side with his back facing him, he couldn’t help but feel a stab of disappointment; they were so close, but - despite sharing a bed - they weren’t even touching. They just lay there side-by-side, Keith fast asleep and Lance trying not to make this awkward, until, after agonising minutes of Lance trying to focus on anything but the hot guy he was sleeping next to, his racing mind finally slowed to a standstill and he dozed off.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not dead! This just took longer than I'd like to write :"D

When Lance woke up, the first thing he noticed was a pair of arms wrapped around his torso, and a pressure on his back. That wasn’t right; he only slept with other people when his nieces and nephews had nightmares, and they weren’t coming to visit until next week, so who..?

Oh, Keith was spooning him in his sleep.

A quick glance at the alarm clock next to his bed told him that it was 5:30am, so he had half an hour to get Keith out of the house without his mama noticing, but he really couldn’t summon the energy to want to move. Keith was pressed so close against his back that he could hear his breathing, and his head was buried in his shoulder. He allowed himself a few selfish moments of enjoying the intimacy before gently nudging him awake.

“Keith,” He whispered “Come on, buddy. We need to get up.”

Keith grunted, keeping his eyes firmly closed and wrapping his arms tighter around Lance. Why was he so strong? Lance was genuinely beginning to consider lowering his body temperature just to get him off (although Keith was so warm against him he’d probably just melt – heck, he would anyway if he didn’t stop platonically spooning with his _crush_ ).

“Come on, Keith,” He groaned, nudges turning more violent as he tried to push him off “I know I’m irresistible but we need to get up before Mama finds out you’re here.”

Keith grunted again, but relented. It was adorable. He should not have found that so adorable.

Now that he was finally able to (reluctantly) claw his arms away and untangle their intertwined bodies, he stumbled out of bed.

“You probably shouldn’t use my bathroom, but if you can get back to your house quick enough you can use yours,” Lance said, absentmindedly picking up Keith’s haphazard pile of clothing and organising it neatly. Most of it was black, except for his red jacket, so he almost missed the black sports bra hidden between the other items of clothing. “You’re trans?”

He turned around just in time to see Keith bolt out of bed and start to rush for the door, and barely had to think before he had darted out to grab his wrist, preventing him from escaping.

“Are you going to make fun of me now?”

“What? No. Why would I make fun of you for that?”

“I just-“ He paused, drawing back. His voice quivered slightly as he spoke “You make fun of me for everything else.”

“Yeah, but it’s only things like your mullet which you can change, and it’s not like I mean any of it.” Lance spoke softly, his heart sinking at Keith’s terrified reaction to him discovering his secret. “I won’t make fun of you for this. I promise.”

Keith’s brows furrowed, “Are you sure?”

“Trust me, if Pidge knew I made fun of someone for being trans she’d dropkick me into the sun.”

A small smile crept onto Keith’s face. “Or hack your social media and post embarrassing photos.”

“Yeah, she’d do that too,” He sighed “That would probably be worse to be honest.”

“No it wouldn’t.”

“Hey, my Instagram account is _sacred!_ ”

-

“Alright, what’s going on? You and Keith have been weirdly happy all day, and I would understand if it was just you, but Keith? Man, I don’t think I’ve ever seen him not look like someone just murdered his entire family.”

Pidge smirked, “They had se-“

“We did not have sex, we just slept together!” Lance bellowed, only realising how that sounded once Pidge burst into laughter and even Hunk had to hold back a giggle “Come on guys, we just shared a bed because he looked really tired so I invited him to my house! It wasn’t sexual.”

“Yeah, ok. If you say so.” Pidge shrugged him off “Anyway, while you were spooning your not-boyfriend, Hunk and I did some research.”

“We have good news and bad news. The bad news is that there’s no record of a superheroine named Allura anywhere online. The good news is that we pulled the footage from your suit and found someone who matches her exactly.” Hunk gestured for him to look at Pidge’s laptop screen, where she had pulled up a photo of Allura.

“Yeah, that’s definitely her.”

“The thing is, she’s known as Princess. The only Allura we’ve been able to find is the daughter of a rich businessman.” She pulled up a different webpage – a Wikipedia article on a man named Alfor Altea “Him and his wife died a few years ago, so Allura’s living with her uncle.”

“So a rich orphan superhero? Are you sure she’s not Batman?” Lance stared at the picture of ‘Princess’, then at the business card she had given him “Shouldn’t she be trying to hide her identity though?”

“Yeah, but she invited strangers to her house, so she clearly wants us to trust her.”

“This could be a trap,” Hunk added “This could definitely be a trap. I don’t like this.”

“Don’t worry, big guy,” Lance said, leaning against his shoulder “There’s three of us and only one of her, and she could not even have superpowers for all we know.”

“We really need the information she has on the Galra, Hunk. She could know where my family is.”

“So we’re going? We’re just going to a stranger’s house and hoping she doesn’t kill us.”

“That’s the plan.”

-

Lance had expected Allura’s house to be one of two things: a really epic high-tech secret base with a hidden entrance and cool weapons, or an old-fashioned mansion that was the kind of place only royalty could afford. What he was not expecting was a modern penthouse overlooking the sea, and what he definitely wasn’t expecting was for four mice to be the first ones to greet them when they arrived.

They squeaked excitedly when their car pulled up, and he could have sworn one even waved. Like tiny butlers, they somehow gestured for them to follow them, and after a few bemused glances between them all, they decided that mice that were one step away from being able to talk were the least of their problems right now.

The penthouse was massive, large enough for a whole family, but had a sadness to it. Everything was not quite perfect – from the scuffs on the rugs to the misaligned ornaments – which spoke of a large family living together under one roof, but it was so empty. Was Allura even here? He didn’t want to think about her and her uncle living here alone.

There was another flurry of squeaks from in front of them as one of the mice broke away from the group and into the room ahead. Moments later, a man emerged holding it and absentmindedly twirling his moustache.

“Oh! You must be Allura’s guests. I see the mice have already made your acquaintance. Say, you didn’t see one carrying a rather large bottle of hair tonic, did you?”

“Uh, no?”

“Ah, never mind then. I’ll go fetch Allura.” And he turned and walked off.

“He seems nice?” Hunk said once he’d left the room. Lance was about to reply when one of the mice scampered up his leg and planted itself firmly on his lap. Chuckling, he started to pet it.

“At least the mice are cute.”

“Yeah, I think I’m going to melt just waiting you pet-“ Hunk was cut off when another mouse crawled into his arm and another sat on his foot “Lance, I have been blessed. This is the best thing to ever happen to me.”

“Lance! It’s so good to see you!” In the doorway stood Allura, looking ethereal. _Alright Lance, it’s now or never. Time to make a good first impression._

“Are you an alien? Because your beauty is out of this world.”

Her friendly smile immediately turned scathing, sending chills down his spine, but as quickly as it changed it was back to being welcoming as she turned to Pidge and Hunk. “You must be Lance’s friends.”

“How did you know Lance is Blue? What do you know about the Galra?”

“Yeah, anyway,” Hunk cut Pidge off before she could continue bombarding Allura with questions “Hi, I’m Hunk. She’s Pidge and you already know Lance. It’s nice to meet you. My friends and I were wondering why you asked us to come here?”

Allura gestured for them to sit down. “Thank you for coming. As I told Lance, I have been tracking the activity of an underground organisation called the Galra, and am working to take them down, but at the moment I only have Coran as an ally, and while he is an excellent healer, he is not very proficient in combat.”

“And Lance is? No offense, but Lance’s ass has been handed to him so many times that Red practically owns it.”

“Hey, I’m great at fighting! I don’t need time for your sass, Pidge.”

“He’s had the most experience fighting the galra out of all of us,” Allura continued “I believe it would be mutually beneficial for us to cooperate.”

“I, for one, would love to spend more time around you.” Lance gave and exaggerated wink towards her, hoping she’d react better than last time. She sighed and rolled her eyes, which was an improvement.

“What information do you have on the Galra, exactly?” Pidge asked, adjusting her glasses.

“Coran has been in the process of cataloguing the locations of most of their bases and outposts, and-“

“Great,” Pidge said, pulling her laptop out of her bag “Where’s the nearest one?”

“I don’t think it would be a good idea to involve someone who doesn’t have any powers.”

“I can manipulate plants and Hunk causes earthquakes.” Hunk waved nervously when he was mentioned “We’ll be fine.”

For the next ten minutes or so, Pidge was furiously typing on her laptop, occasionally asking Allura questions as she did so. At one point while she worked Coran had come in with juice boxes and they chatted while they waited. To his delight, Lance learnt that he and Coran were surprisingly similar, and he was halfway through listening to one of his stories about his youth when they were interrupted by a triumphant shout from Pidge. They all crowded around her laptop screen.

“Wow, that’s a lot of files. What are they?”

“Only the Galra’s most top secret files,” She clicked on a folder named ‘schematics’, and various documents flashed up on screen.

“Uh, is anyone else concerned by blueprints for handcuffs labelled ‘power-nullifying’?”

“That’s probably how they’ve captured so many people with superpowers,” Allura said grimly “Pidge, can you copy the files?”

“Already on it.”

There was a sudden beeping noise as an alert popped up in the corner of the screen. Pidge wordlessly clicked it, and a window popped up displaying what Lance could only assume was information about the transmission currently being sent.

 _”This is command centre G-117 to soldier 117-875. We have details on your next target. We expect no mistakes this time. You know the consequences for failure.”_ The voice was cold yet dripped with authority, causing Lance to shudder. Man, he did not want this guy to be his boss – he almost felt bad for the soldier.

“They’re sending files along with the audio transmission.”

“Can we intercept them?”

“We can view it, but if it’s intercepted they’ll notice something’s wrong.”

“At least this means we can warn their next target, right?”

“It’s better than nothi-“ Pidge’s words died in her throat as the file on the Galra’s target was pulled up. It held a terrifying amount of information, from height to superpower to known family members, but what caused their hearts to stop was the name in block capitals at the top of the screen.

‘KATIE HOLT’


	6. Chapter 6

“I think Keith’s been avoiding me,” Lance mumbled, draped over one of Allura’s fancy couches.

“He’s probably just being emo again. He’ll get over it.”

“I know, but I’m worried about him. He goes through bouts of shutting everyone out so much – that’s not healthy, but I don’t know what to do!”

“Ask him out,” Hunk suggested despite being on the other side of the room and not involved in the conversation. For the last hour he’d been surrounded by deconstructed electronics and their stolen schematics, intent on building the power-nullifying handcuffs, but that didn’t stop him from butting into their conversation every now and then while he worked.

“Hunk, I’m being serious!”

“Fine, ask him out when we’ve captured Red, defeated the Galra, and basically saved the world. Everyone loves a superhero, right?”

“Everyone but Keith. Seriously, the guy tenses up whenever anyone even mentions superpowers!”

“Man, that sucks. Maybe he’ll change his mind once you save his brother?”

“Yeah,” Lance grinned, only just managing to reign in how lovestruck he sounded at the thought of Keith liking him back “Then he’ll see how awesome I am!”

“Lance,” Allura cut into the conversation “You must take this seriously. More things are at stake than your relationship status.”

“Yeah, like me,” Pidge added.

“You sent the message then?”

“Yep,” Pidge grinned smugly “The Galra are now fully aware that Pidge Gunderson and Katie Holt are the same person. We should be expecting Red any day now.”

“And you’re sure you’ll be able to get away from them unharmed?” Allura asked.

“I’ll be fine. Red barely won against Lance when he had one ally, and there’s four of us. They’re basically a sitting duck as soon as they come out of hiding.”

“And these handcuffs are almost done,” Hunk added “All I need is a battery to charge them and we’re all good.”

Lance frowned “Why do you need a battery? They’re handcuffs.”

“Oh, well, it’s actually really fascinating. You see the handcuffs target and suppress the genetic mutation that causes superpowers, so-“

“Maybe Lance should try them.”

“What? No way am I putting those things on!”

-

The handcuffs felt heavy in Lance’s hand as the last remnants of the sun set and night blanketed the city. This was it; the trap had been laid.

He watched as the last of the people below him filtered out of the park, leaving only Pidge and a few others that Allura would have to protect so they didn’t get caught in the crossfire. Hunk and Allura hid with to him, staying out of sight so Red thought Pidge was alone. Their presence was comforting, and Lance was secretly glad they were here, no matter how much danger they were all putting themselves in by doing this.

‘We’re a team now,’ Allura had said just before they set the plan into motion. And, between all the planning, tinkering, hacking, and even just hanging out, he had realised that he trusted his teammates with his life. Allura and Coran had fit as seamlessly into their group as Keith had, and they were closer than ever.

Keith would love them, and once this was all over he was definitely introducing them to each other. Coran got on well with everybody, and Keith was sure not to be an exception, and Allura? Her and Keith were both incredibly hot and somewhat intimidating. They’d get along fine. The real question was whether Lance could handle being in the same room together with them without dying of how incredibly attracted he was to both of them.

Maybe once Keith joined their group they could give it a badass name. Something like ‘Legendary Defenders’ – or anything that ended in ‘tron’. Anything that ended in ‘tron’ was immediately more epic.

“No sign of Red yet,” Hunk mumbled “Come on, come on, come on.”

“Hunk,” Allura interrupted “It’s been five minutes.”

“I know, but I’m worried - I don’t want Pidge to get hurt! I just want Red to turn up, and then we can beat them and this’ll all be over and we’ll all be safe and we won’t have to worry about this anymore.” He nervously fiddled with the makeshift hero mask they had thrown together last-minute as he rambled. Usually, Hunk would have stayed as far away from the action as possible, but Pidge was in danger, and Hunk’s loyalty to his friends outweighed any danger the world could throw at him.

“Alright, I’m in position,” Pidge whispered, her body language casual and relaxed as she pretended she was not currently risking her life. Only the slight tremor in her voice gave her away. “Red should be here any second.”

Lance wordlessly handed the handcuffs to Hunk before scanning the park for any sign of Red. He was nervous – there was no denying that – and it was making him more agitated that he would have liked. Suddenly his frantic mind was mistaking every midnight animal for their footsteps, every rustle of leaves for them readying an attack, and every streetlamp for the purple glow of their suit. The silence was unnerving, and everyone was on edge.

There was a rustle in the bushes. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Allura tense and Hunk freeze up, and then a bush burst into flames – Red was here.

There were screams from the few who were in the park at this time of night, and Allura immediately made her way over to them so she could get them to safety. Lance headed in the other direction, towards the centre of the action - towards Red.

It was only once he saw Pidge actively fighting back against Red that he realised the true scope of her powers. What he had thought was just dainty flower-growing and an enhanced green thumb was actually massive vines erupting from the ground to attack their opponent, only to be charred to cinders once they made contact with the fire. Even the surrounding trees and bushes seemed to bend to her will.

But she was at a disadvantage. Plants were flammable, and Red was making full use of that. Not one of her plants even managed to come close to them – only managing to push them away, not preventing the inevitable. That is, what would be inevitable had she not had backup.

Lance burst out of his hiding spot, ice attacks at full force, catching Red off guard and forcing them to direct their focus from Pidge to him lest they become a popsicle. This gave Pidge the opportunity to wrap a vine around their leg, and in one brief moment they had caught them, but it didn’t last. Red’s body burst into flames, reducing the vine to a pile of dust in mere seconds and pushing Lance backwards. He quickly retaliated with a temporary ice shield that was melting in the intense heat, but would buy them a few precious moments.

“Are the civilians safe?” He asked Allura, quietly revelling in how cool it was that he could call them ‘civilians’ before scolding himself - this was really not the time.

“Yes,” Came the reply “But you need to finish this quickly, Lance. These people are safe, but I’m worried more may be caught in the crossfire if we’re not careful.”

“Don’t worry, Princess. I can handle this.”

He could not handle this. The shield was rapidly melting as Red pounded on it relentlessly and it was quickly becoming apparent that it wouldn’t last much longer. Next to him, the strain of commanding so many plants in such a short time frame was starting to take its toll on Pidge, and, as much as she tried to hide it, she was starting to look exhausted.

A stream of fire melted the last of the ice, which Lance just barely dodged, and once one hole was blasted through the shield the entire thing soon melted. He was immediately on high alert, hyperaware of both Pidge and Red’s positions while simultaneously trying to dodge Red’s frantic attacks and put distance between them so that he could effectively use his gun.

And then he lost sight of them both. One moment he was fighting Red, scrambling for the upper hand, and the next he had his gun in his hands, ready to fire a shot only to see that his opponent was nowhere in sight.

“Pidge?” He frantically shouted “Pidge, where are you? Hunk, Allura, did you see where Red and Pidge went?”

“Neither of them came near me,” Allura said quietly.

“You lost Pidge?” Hunk cried.

Lance cursed with enough vulgarity to make his mother cry as he searched the surrounding area, now eerily silent, yet scarred from the remnants of their battle. It felt empty, desolate. 

They couldn’t have gone too far - there was no way Red could move that quickly. They had to be nearby. He just needed something to point him in the right direction, like another fire, or-

Or a tree bursting from the ground.

Lance dashed towards it, readying his gun and firing at Red as soon as he saw them, forcing them to back off slightly. To their right was Pidge, hanging limply in one of the tree’s branches.

“Someone get Pidge,” He told the team “I’ll handle Red.”

Having noticed their assault, Red doubled their efforts to get to Pidge (which would have been funny since their powers didn’t allow them to fly, except they were putting Pidge in danger, and Lance was not allowing that). He immediately shot blasts of ice towards them, pushing them away from the tree to give his friends an opening, but Red saw it coming. They dodged the blasts and dashed forwards, fire blazing in their hands.

They were backing up. Away from his friends. Away from Pidge’s tree, which was the only thing standing between her and meeting the same fate as her brother. His back hit a wall. Red’s fire pinned him like a gun to the head.

“Get back,” He growled, shooting ice but knowing even before it hit its target that their body temperature was too high for it to do anything but melt. “Get off me!” He started to struggle, but he was pinned firmly against the wall.

Slowly, his struggling tapered out as it became clear it was useless. Red’s body temperature was too high for his ice to be effective. He couldn’t reach his gun. They raised their arm, ready to knock him out and take him back to their lair like he’d seen them do so many times before – somehow it had never crossed Lance’s mind that them targeting those with powers also included him, and now the hunter had become the hunted.

At least Pidge would be safe. Allura and Hunk would get her to safety, and Coran would heal her – she’d be fine after a good rest and some food. The Galra would still be after her, but she could just change her identity again and she’d be fine. Allura could make sure his family would be safe, and that they wouldn’t be targets now (he really, really didn’t want to think about that – his niece had started showing signs of having powers and he worried about what would happen if she didn’t learn to hide it). And Keith? He really hoped he would stay friends with Pidge and Hunk after he was gone – it would hurt to see him retreat back to being the loner he was before.

Maybe he should have seen this coming. He had known that being a hero would be dangerous, but never fully believed it until it was too late.

Their eyes met, and Lance caught the barest hint of remorse in Red’s eyes before they bought their fist down.

There was a shout from someone behind them, and the ground started to tremble. Red jerked back as Hunk came into view, and as the ground cracked and splintered under their feet Lance pushed himself away from them and towards his friend, who greeted him with a warm smile before turning back to Red, his expression murderous.

“Lance, get back,” He murmured, and he had just enough time to do so before Hunk’s powers tore the ground in half like it was made of paper. The Earth itself was under his command, collapsing in on itself at his request. The surrounding pavement shattered into pieces, and Lance had to hold onto Hunk just to keep himself upright.

Even with their face hidden, it was clear Red had started to panic. They tried to run – no longer caring about going after Pidge or Lance, but they were in Hunk’s element, and the floor itself prevented them moving more than a couple of steps. They didn’t stand a chance, and with one final push, a chasm opened beneath their feet, swallowing them whole.

Next to him, Hunk went from rigid to more relaxed, and Lance had to steady him to keep him from toppling over.

“That was amazing!” Lance grinned “I didn’t know you could do that!”

“Yeah, me neither. I guess I saw you in danger and just… did it,” He chuckled bitterly “Almost toppled the city before I controlled myself.”

“Don’t worry big guy, you’ll get the hang of it,” Lance patted his shoulder.

To their left, Allura came into view holding a barely conscious Pidge, but a bright smile on her face. “Hunk, that was incredible!”

“Aw, you guys…” Hunk blushed.

“We’re just telling the truth,” Lance praised, before turning to Allura “Is Pidge okay?”

“She’s fine, just exhausted from using her powers too much. Aside from a few minor burns, she’s completely unharmed.” She glanced at the newly-made chasm imprisoning Red like she still couldn’t believe it was there. “Hunk, do you still have those handcuffs?” He handed them to her, and she walked over to the chasm.

Holding his hands out and concentrating, Hunk created a makeshift stairway. The four went down – far further down than Lance had initially assumed it would be – passing pavement, then concrete, then dirt, until they eventually reached the bottom of the pit where Red was, leaning against the wall, unmoving.

By this point, Pidge had regained some energy and was able to stand upright with a little support from Hunk. She stared at Red curiously, but didn’t say anything, so Lance chose to ignore it in favour of focusing on the supervillain in front of them.

Allura walked forward, unceremoniously yanking Red up and cuffing their hands behind their back. Surprisingly, they didn’t struggle. Maybe they finally realised it was over – that Lance had finally won, and those with powers were finally safe.

 _Safety_ \- after all this time, he’d almost forgotten what it felt like. He could finally let himself relax, not having to worry that his friends or family may get taken away all because they have powers. Maybe he could take Keith to the movies again, or to his favourite spot near the coast. They’d both like that, he thought, and once the Galra were defeated he wouldn’t have to worry about always being in the city.

But it wasn’t over yet; they still had to deal with Red. Even with them in front of them, beaten and battered, Lance couldn’t feel sympathy for them; they had put his friends in danger, as well as the whole city, and it was time they got what they deserved.

Lance walked towards them, his face stern, then turned to Allura. “Can I?”

She nodded. It was time to finally find out Red’s identity.

He reached up, locking eyes with Red for a moment before they looked away, almost shamefully, as he grabbed their hood and pulled it down, revealing messy, black hair that caused his breath to hitch; he’d recognise that mullet anywhere.

It would be a lie to say that his hand didn’t tremble as he pulled down Red’s bandanna to reveal Keith Kogane, cuffed and broken, staring up at him.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a warning that there is a panic attack near the end of this chapter. It is somewhat brief though, being only about a paragraph long, but if you want to skip it it's between 'What happened if you…' and 'Shh'

Lance groaned, sinking further down onto the couch and idly playing some game on his phone just to give himself something to do. How long had he been there? An hour? Two? It could be the whole day for all he cared - it wasn’t like he had anyone to hang out with outside of his superhero life anymore, and his other friends were too busy doing more important things.

He should be helping them. What good is a superhero who can’t handle the revelation that their nemesis is his-

…His what? His best friend? His crush? A traitor? He didn’t know anymore. Nothing had made sense since they finished that mission.

The phone lit up with a cheerful jingle as he finished another level. He groaned and threw it across the room, where it landed on the other couch with a dull thud.

This shouldn’t be getting to him so much.

He rolled over, burying his face in a fancy, silk pillow and trying not to cry.

Everything he had done so far had been for his friends, his family, and for Keith. He wanted them to be safe, free from the Galra and everything they had done, and so he chose to take that burden so they didn’t have to. Keith had thrown away all that. Had he even cared in the first place, or did he just humour Lance like everyone else seemed to? After all, he was the goofball of the group, no matter how heroic he acted.

He didn’t feel like a hero now. He didn’t feel like anything right now.

Maybe if he lay on this couch long enough it would swallow him whole.

Faintly, he could hear the movements of the others upstairs, and he tried to focus on it in an attempt to ground himself. Allura’s house didn’t have prison cells, so they had renovated a bedroom instead; the others had been congregated there all throughout the morning, trying to get information out of Red. He couldn’t even look at the damn room.

There was a shuffle from behind him, which he ignored in favour of wallowing in his own self-pity. This worked for barely a few seconds before whoever it was got closer, seating themself gingerly on the other end of the couch.

“Mind if I join you?” Coran asked as he sat down. Lance grunted, but didn’t make any move to stop him, so he took it as an invitation to continue. “If you need somewhere to rest, we have far better places than this couch. Why, this house has eight bedrooms on the first floor alone! Surely at least one must tickle your fancy.”

“Thanks,” Lance mumbled, still face-first in a pillow “I’m good here.”

“Oh, I see,” He mused, stroking his moustache “You’re upset. What’s wrong, my boy? Pidge found your embarrassing photos again?”

“No, I-“ He paused “Yeah, she always has those as blackmail, but that’s not the reason. It’s worse than that.”

“Worse?” Lance grunted in affirmation “Well, it’ll do you no good lying there moping – how about helping me with a few chores?”

“Coran, I don’t think-“

“Nonsense, Number Two! A little spring cleaning never hurt anyone.”

“Number Two?” He echoed, pulling himself off the couch as Coran started to walk away.

“Yes, I have you ranked in height order. Come along now – we have a lot of work to do.”

“Wait, does that mean I’m second tallest or second shortest?” Jogging to catch up, he only realised that they were halfway across the house when Coran tossed him a mop “Uh,” He said, dumbfounded. Coran just gestured for him to start cleaning while he grabbed a rag and started polishing the dining table, and so Lance slowly got to work.

“This reminds me of the time I first met Alfor,” Coran rambled as he worked “Barely a day in and us two had made such a mess that our dad had us cleaning the house from tip to toe! It was a good bonding exercise, mind you – especially since our parents had just married, so both of us had a new stepbrother we knew nothing about.” He sighed wistfully “Oh, Alfor. He was a lifelong friend after that.”

“I wish I had such reliable friends,” Lance bitterly muttered to himself. He hadn’t intended for Coran to overhear, but the guy must have had elf ears or something because he immediately stopped cleaning to turn to Lance, eyes soft with understanding.

“Oh, Lance. Is this about Keith?”

Lance just nodded, not trusting himself to speak. Once again his vision was becoming blurred with tears, which only became worse as Coran walked up to him, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder.

“It’s just…” He sobbed “He was my best friend, and I trusted him.” Coran nodded empathetically as he let Lance pull him into a hug “I loved him, Coran. I loved him so much, and he would never do something like this but he did and I don’t know why!”

“I understand; it’s hard losing a loved one.” Lance sniffed and nodded his head slightly as Coran continued “But you haven’t lost him yet. Ever since he was captured, Keith hasn’t spoken to anyone – maybe you can get him to explain his reasoning.”

“You think kidnapping is justified?” The harsher edge to his voice was muffled by the fact he had his face buried in Coran’s chest.

“No, no. But you might be able to get some closure.”

Pausing, Lance mulled it over. He didn’t want to face Keith again, but he couldn’t put it off forever. They would have to get him to tell them where the Galra base was sooner or later, and then they’d have to face others with the same uniform, the same goal, the same cold, empty look in their eyes - he had to supress a shudder.

But it was too late to back out now. From day one, him and the others had known what they were getting into – and giving up now meant making himself a target for the Galra, as well as his friends and family.

He’d rather lose Keith than everyone else he loved.

“Ok,” He mumbled with a heavy heart “I’ll try and talk to him. Thanks, Coran.”

“You’re welcome, my boy.”

Lance pulled away, dutifully picking up the mop and continuing to help Coran clean the room. It was the least he could do for him.

-

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Hunk asked, hovering behind Lance “I mean, if you want we can turn around and just wait for Allura to deal with this. Not that I’m scared – why would I be scared of Keith? I’m not scared even though he could burn my face off, and-“ He deflated “Okay, I’m scared. Can we not do this?”

“I’ve got this, Hunk. Lancey Lance is on the case.” Lance patted his arm, putting on a confident façade yet still not fully able to stop the tremor in his hand as he turned the doorknob and walked in.

Despite not being gagged, Keith said nothing as they walked in, merely following them with his eyes as they walked closer to the chair he was bound to. His suit was still tattered, but someone had patched up his injuries and his hair was tied out of his face.

“Keith…” The name came unprompted, simply falling out of his mouth in a breath of pity. Keith averted his eyes, staring firmly at the floor, but his breath quickening slightly betrayed that he recognised him, though soon even that slowed to an even pace as Keith, stoic as ever, stubbornly refused to acknowledge him. “Keith, please look at me.”

A tense silence filled the air as Lance waited. Slowly, Keith’s head rose and their eyes met, and suddenly Lance was regretting everything that had ever led him up to this point; Keith’s eyes in the harsh light filtering in through the small window looked so vibrant that he would drown in them a million times over just to see the pain in them wash away.

Shaking himself, he pulled away, gaze trailing over Keith for split second before noticing something hidden in the cracks of Keith’s suit that wouldn’t have been visible if not for how damaged it was from their battle. Lance reached over and gently pried one of the larger cracks open so he could get a closer look.

“Hunk, can you get Pidge? And tell her to bring her laptop.”

Within moments Hunk had returned, Pidge close behind him. She darted over to them, peering at where Lance pointed.

“There are wires in the suit,” She muttered “The suit is bugged – of course the suit is bugged! Why didn’t we check for that first?”

“Can you deactivate it?”

“I’ll need to check to see what it’s recorded first, then Hunk should be able to get rid of it.” As she spoke, she started up her laptop and was already messing with the wires. After a few moments of furious typing, she sighed. “It’s empty; all the data has already been sent.”

After that, Hunk took over, inspecting the wires before carefully removing them. They weaved throughout the entire suit, covering most of the body, meaning that it took at least half an hour before they were all finally removed. During that time they had found a broken camera and earpiece, along with the now-deactivated microphone and something they couldn’t identify until it accidentally sparked as it was removed, which could have severely injured Hunk if he hadn’t realised what it was in time and dropped it.

“Alright,” He said “That’s all of it – weird sparky things and all.”

“Shockers.”

“What?” Lance sharply turned to Keith, who had just spoken “Was that sarcasm or a correction?”

Keith tensed, having just realised that now the entire room’s attention was focused on him. “They called them shockers. If we didn’t do what they said, then they’d use them.”

Hunk frowned, “It was really easy to remove though.”

“Yeah,” Pidge added “And if you couldn’t do it then you could’ve just asked Hunk. For all we know, that could have been added to the suit to stop people removing the wiring.”

“You don’t understand,” Keith hissed.

“Understand what? That you were working for a morally corrupt underground organisation hellbent on destroying people’s lives? Their families?”

“You think I don’t know that?”

“How could you know what it’s like to have your family taken away by the Galra? To lose everyone you care about and be forced to live life as the gender you’ve tried so long to avoid being associated with just so it doesn’t happen to you?” Pidge was quivering as she spoke “You think I like pretending to be someone I’m not? Or that I spend my life in hiding just for your sick game of cat and mouse?” The window started to rattle as the plants outside started to pound on it – reacting to Pidge’s fury “I lost everything, Red!” Cracks spiderwebbed across the window _”Everything!”_

Lance lurched forward, grabbing Pidge by the waist who struggled and kicked with a string of curse words. “Lance, what the hell? Let go of me you son of a-“

“Call your plants off or you’ll bring the entire house down!” He bellowed, gesturing to the window.

The sight of it made Pidge freeze. “I did that?”

“Hey,” Hunk interjected “Maybe we could all calm down a little. I could get us some smoothies and we can relax and not think about missing families or superpowers almost destroying the house.”

“No,” She hissed, interrupting Lance who was very keen on accepting the offer “Not until I hear what he has to say for himself.”

Every gaze in the room turned to Keith, who shifted nervously in his seat. “I-“ His voice caught on his own nerves “I’m sorry. I know what it’s like to lose your family to the Galra.”

“How can _you_ know what it’s like?”

“They took my brother, and killed our parents. I should have hidden like you did, but I was stupid. All I knew was that I didn’t want to lose my last family member, so I looked, and I searched everywhere,” He tilted his head back, lost in the memory. Tears rolled down his cheeks “And I found him, but they found me first, and it was just what Haggar wanted.”

“Haggar?” Lance echoed “If that isn’t the name of someone evil I don’t know what is. Let me guess, her husband’s name is Emperor Doom?”

For a brief moment Keith smiled at Lance’s comment, but it was short-lived, and he fell back into the chasm of grief that his story resurfaced far too quickly. “She’s their head scientist. We were kept in pairs so that one of us could do their dirty work while the other was used to keep them in control.”

“What-“ Lance gulped “What happened if you…”

“They have an arena that they forced them to fight in.” His breathing was getting quicker, and Lance reached for his hand in an attempt to comfort him. “Usually while we watched. And sometimes if we did anything too… _wrong_ she would take her scientists and they’d make us watch them, and she said it was for science but I can… I can still hear the screams. They’ve probably killed him by now. They’re probably torturing him as we speak – please, Lance, we have to get to him before they-“

“Shh, Keith,” Lance murmured “It’s okay, you’re here and you’re safe. We’ll get Shiro back, and Pidge’s family too, I promise.”

Hunk joined in, going through some breathing exercises with him as he calmed down, and even Pidge seemed concerned. Slowly, Keith’s breathing began to even out, and Lance untied him from the chair. When he noticed Pidge staring at him quizzically, he just shrugged. “He’s not going to hurt anyone.”

Realising what Lance was doing, Hunk tinkered with the handcuffs, causing them to split into two bracelets which would still contain his powers, but free his hands.

“Thank you,” Keith murmured “I don’t deserve this.”

“Nope, you’ve had an awful enough day already so I’m stopping that thought right there,” Lance quipped “Everyone deserves do be helped, and you’re no exception. Now come on, the bedroom next door has an unbroken window and hasn’t been converted into a cell – you can rest in there while we talk to Allura.”

Lance still hadn’t let go of Keith’s hand, but Keith didn’t seem to mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those that skipped the panic attack, basically Keith described the Galra treating their prisoners like they do in canon except they kept them in pairs so if one misbehaved the other would be tortured
> 
> Keith is my favourite character I swear


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a bit of a shorter chapter, but there's gonna be lots of action next chapter so look forward to that I guess

Once Keith had settled in his new room, Pidge had darted away to apply the information she’d just been given, leaving Lance and Hunk to break the news to Allura – a job neither of them had wanted to do anytime soon. After taking a moment to both recover and prepare themselves (okay, it was more like a few hours, but who could blame them? Allura was scary when she was angry), they eventually made their way over to where they thought she’d be.

It was times like this when Lance really wished Allura’s home wasn’t so large. They had to check her bedroom, the gym, the lounge, the bathroom, and countless other rooms before they found her by taking directions from the _mice_. She was in the library, doing research on a laptop – he didn’t even know they had a library!

“Allura?” Lance asked, causing Allura to look up from her screen. Beside him, one of the mice, who had taken up residence on his shoulder, squeaked quietly as he nervously pet it. This was fine. It was just Allura; she’d understand. He had nothing to worry about.

“What is it, Lance? Hunk?” Her eyebrows furrowed as she turned to face them “Did something happen?”

“Uh, yes?” He shrugged sheepishly “Don’t freak out, but-“

“What did you do?” Allura deadpanned, earning an indignant cry from Lance.

“What? What makes you think _I_ did anything? I didn’t do anything, and I’m offended that you would think so! I’ll have you know that I’m a paragon of-“ His offended rambling was cut off by a large, Hunk-sized hand over his mouth.

“Lance spoke to Keith,” He explained to Allura, who immediately perked up.

“Oh, that’s wonderful! Did he tell you anything?” She asked, clasping her hands together.

“Yeah, that’s the thing. He told us quite a lot, actually.”

Lance pushed the hand away. “And now he can help us find Pidge’s family, but we also need to find his brother who’s also being held by the Galra as blackmail.”

A moment washed over them like the eye of a hurricane. Allura’s piercing blue eyes narrowed as she processed what had just been said, and her fist subconsciously clenched. Even the mouse on his shoulder decided that now was a good time to leave.

Then she straightened her posture, turning towards them with the grace of a princess. “I appreciate your good intentions, but surely you must know by now that the Galra cannot be trusted.”

“Keith isn’t one of them,” He growled, defensiveness sharpening his words. He trusted Keith with his _life_ \- she knew that! So why couldn’t she trust him too? They were supposed to be a team.

“This could just be a ploy to-“ She started, but he cut her off – he knew where this was going.

“You didn’t see him, Allura – you didn’t see how badly the Galra have affected him!” He paused, reigning himself in so he could find the right words “You don’t need to trust Keith, but please trust me.”

“I cannot take those risks, Lance,” She reiterated, turning away from them so she could return to whatever she was doing, leaving no more room for argument; they had lost.

Hunk placed a solemn hand on his shoulder, and they walked away.

-

“This is bullshit!” Lance cried, falling face-first into a pillow (again. He’d really hoped this wouldn’t be a regular occurrence) “What right does she have to keep Keith locked up when his brother could be dying? She needs to help – that’s what superheroes do!”

Next to him, Pidge was tinkering with some of the circuits from Keith’s suit while Hunk nodded empathetically like the saint he was.

“She did have her whole family killed by the Galra,” Pidge added, earning a stubborn huff from Lance “Think about how you’d feel if you were in her situation.”

He sighed, “Yeah, she did. She has a right to be angry.” And the conversation dissolved into silence – only the slight agitated tapping of Lance’s fingers against his leg being any indication of how pent up he was. Waiting around doing nothing wasn’t going to save Shiro or stop the Galra, but they had no choice but to wait for Allura to come to her senses, and how long would that take? They needed to start planning now if they had any hope of winning before it was too late.

An idea started worming its way into his mind.

Lance stood up abruptly, walking out of the room. By now, he knew the massive house like the back of his hand, so he made it to Keith’s room easily and unlocked the door with the keys that had been hidden behind a nearby plant pot. There were no sounds from inside the room as he went in, and when he fully opened the door he saw why.

Keith was curled up on the bed, the thin sheet wrapped around him. The rest of the room was solemn and undisturbed – he’d clearly gone to sleep as soon as he was alone, and honestly? Lance couldn’t blame him after all he’d been through.

Quietly, he made his way across the room to the wardrobe. If his hunch was right, this would be where the heavier blankets were kept, as well as occasionally a spare pair of pyjamas if he was lucky (maybe next time he could convince Keith to sleep in them instead of his uncomfortable-looking Galra bodysuit). Sure enough, the wardrobe was packed with spare quilts and blankets, so he grabbed the one at the top of the pile and gingerly placed it over Keith, who subconsciously pulled it closer.

He could come back later; Keith needed a rest.

Unfortunately, just as he opened the door to leave he heard a muffled “Lance..?” from behind him. He turned around, and – okay, scratch that ‘unfortunately’ because sleepy Keith was the most goddamn adorable thing he’d ever seen. He sat up, blanket still draped over his shoulders, mullet sticking out at all angles, stifling a yawn, and Lance almost melted on the spot.

“Good morning, Mullet,” He said, despite it being six in the afternoon.

Keith blinked, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. “How long was I asleep?”

“About five hours,” He said, making his way back over to his friend and sitting next to him on the bed.

“Oh,” He frowned, shuffling slightly closer to Lance “That’s more than usual.”

Rather than focusing on how cute he was when he’d barely woken up, Lance instead focused on the more important things by responding with an offended “ _Keith!_ Everyone knows you need eight hours of beauty sleep.”

His friend seemed to contemplate his answer, fidgeting with his blanket as he did so, before replying with a simple “Six is enough.”

“Are you at least feeling better now?”

“Yeah.” He broke eye contact “Thanks.”

Lance couldn’t help but smile fondly at him. “That’s good,” He said softly “Do you want me to get you anything?”

“No, I-“ A loud rumble from his stomach betrayed him, earning a chuckle from Lance.

“I’ll get Hunk to make you something.”

It took only a few minutes to find Hunk and ask him for some food. And a short while later he had a plate full of the most mouth-watering morsels imaginable. Hunk had jumped at the chance to make something for Keith once he realised how long he’d been without food, and had overcompensated by almost making his most gourmet meals before Lance reminded him that it should probably be made quickly (because he’d be hungry otherwise - obviously not because he wanted to see him again as soon as possible), so he piled the plate with leftovers and tiny sandwiches with olives on cocktail sticks sticking out of them. Lance would be lying if he said he wasn’t jealous.

When he made it back to the room, Keith was waiting for him, and seemed to brighten up at the sight of the food. He scarfed it down far too quickly to be healthy.

“Enjoying it?” Lance grinned, making mental note to thank Hunk later (and maybe to get some of whatever Keith was eating for himself – it looked incredible).

“Yeah, it’s amazing,” He said, mouth half-full of food. Once he swallowed it however, his face fell, and his eyes turned downcast.

“What’s wrong? Is it the food?” Lance asked, praying it wasn’t the food - Hunk would be heartbroken.

“When are we rescuing Shiro?”

_Shit._ He was really hoping he wouldn’t ask that.

“Well, the thing is…” He paused, momentarily stalling for time - how was he supposed to tell him that they hadn’t even started planning a rescue yet? “Allura doesn’t really trust you right now, so we’re trying to convince her to change her mind.”

“That’ll take too long!” Keith growled “He could be dead already!”

“I know, but-“

“If you’re not helping me then I’m going without you.” As he spoke, Keith was already tugging at the bracelet-handcuffs that contained his powers, and the rest of his body was taunt – poised to strike. This would not end well.

“Woah, hold it!” He threw his hands up, but Keith ignored it, a sneer gracing his features.

“I have to do this, Lance. Don’t try and stop me.”

In an attempt to catch him off guard, he tried to push past him, but Lance was ready for it, flinging the door shut and placing himself between it and his friend. “You can’t seriously be rushing out with no powers or a plan?”

“I don’t have a choice!” His fists were balled so tightly that his knuckles started to go white with blood loss, and there was a slight tremor in his voice as he spoke.

“You _do_ have a choice! I’m helping you figure out a plan and we’re saving Shiro – no matter what Allura says.”

“We don’t have enough time for that!”

“Do you want to get yourself killed?” Lance growled, pushing himself closer until their faces were mere inches apart “Because that’s exactly what you’re going to do if you don’t stop being a hothead moron, and-“ His voice wavered “I don’t want to lose you, Keith. You deserve better than dying at the hands of some Galra bastard because you thought you could take on the entire world by yourself.”

For a moment, the world stopped. Suddenly he was acutely aware of how close they were: how he could clearly see how Keith’s brows furrowed as he mulled his words over, and how his body slowly uncoiled as the tension in it started to leave. Shoulders slumped back in a tentative way – not quite unguarded, but almost, and his feet shuffled like they’re rather be anywhere but this cramped room.

“Fine,” Keith said, stepping back slightly “What’s your plan?”


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that this took so long, but it's over twice the length of my usual chapters so hopefully that should make up for it

Lance’s body lay limp, hanging precariously over Keith’s shoulder like a ragdoll as they moved forward, Keith’s arm loosely wrapped around his legs being the only thing stopping him from falling face-first into the dirt. Behind him, his wrists were bound in a pair of power-nullifying handcuffs that glowed a steady purple, rather than the brilliant blue of Hunk’s design, and were starting to go numb.

“Do you always cup your captives’ asses when carrying them like this?” He hissed when Keith readjusted his grip, only to receive no reply. An annoyed grunt earned him a sharp jostle, so he took the hint.

He was taken to the outskirts of the city, toward where large warehouses lined the streets. To his surprise, Keith barrelled past most of them, until they reached a derelict warehouse that was hidden from view. The thing was falling apart – corrugated iron lined the entrance where it had fallen from the roof and no one had bothered to replace it, and the walls were stained with rust.

Keith’s grip tensed as he dug through a few dust-lined boxes to expose a panel underneath.

“State your name and identification number,” A cold voice stated once he pushed the button on it.

“Keith Kogane. 117-875.” The number rolled off his tongue with practised ease.

There was no reply, and Lance’s heartbeat was steadily speeding up as he tried to calm his hyperactive nerves. He barely relaxed slightly once a sharp “Access granted.” pierced the silence, and a metal hatch hidden in the floor slid away to reveal a tunnel, which Keith went down.

Lance took a deep breath, shut his eyes, and pretended to be passed out.

It soon became clear that he was not going to remember his way out; the base was like a labyrinth – for every turn he committed to memory, there were two more that caused him to lose track. If he didn’t know any better, he’d say they were going in circles.

“This is not your target, soldier.” 

“This is Blue Lion. He’s more valuable than a little girl.” Keith stopped moving and turned toward the speaker. Even though he couldn’t see his face, Lance knew it was twisted into a scowl.

A rough hand brushed Lance’s face before fiercely ripping off his mask and grabbing his chin. Whoever Keith was talking too clearly wanted to get a good look at him, and he had to force his breathing to remain steady.

“You must have given him brain damage; most of your targets are kicking and screaming by the time we get to this stage.” His head was slightly tilted to the side, and he could feel breath on his face. Did this guy have any concept of personal space? “It’s a shame; I’ve wanted to break this brat since he first challenged us.”

“The druids wouldn’t like that.”

“The druids can fix him. They’ll find out what he knows and then send him to the arena with the rest of the canon fodder until we need him.” The person finally let go of his face, and Lance let it drop back down, wishing he could scrub the feeling of that wrinkled, dry hand off him. “Get this prisoner and your assigned target before the druids maul your brother worse than they did when they heard you were captured.”

Under him, Keith tensed, and his grip tightened. “Vrepit Sa,” He growled, his voice thick with contained rage, and the other person walked off.

“We’re almost there,” Lance mumbled once they were out of earshot.

“Stop talking or you’ll get us both caught.”

Thankfully, no-one else bothered them on their trek through the base, aside from the occasional guard who only ever said a few words at best before continuing with their patrol. In Lance’s opinion it was far too convenient, but he wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth. The sooner they could get this over with, the better.

Then Keith came to a stop, and Lance’s breath hitched. Slowly he was slid off his shoulder with a quiet “No-one can see us here; be quick.” and he opened his eyes. The base they were in was grey and metallic, with the pristine walls contrasting the rusted exterior, and the purple lighting in it gave it an almost otherworldly glow. However, what was most striking was Keith, who’s Galra-issued suit’s red colour contrasted the rest of the base. They locked eyes, Lance giving a reassuring smile.

“Take care of yourself,” He whispered, causing Keith to shake his head.

“I should be telling you that.”

“But we both know how self-destructive you are; I can handle myself just fine in there. Just try not to blow anything up while I’m gone, okay?” He teased.

“What? I don’t blow things up.”

“Sure you don’t, Mr. Fire Powers.”

Keith didn’t react to the jab (unfortunately), instead shuffling uncomfortably where he stood. “Just promise me you’ll come back safe.”

“I promise,” He said softly, pulling him closer so their foreheads were almost touching “And Keith?”

“Yeah?”

Lance moved his head down, planting a kiss on his cheek.

Wide, purple eyes gazed up at him, and he reached his hand up to gently touch where his lips had just been. “That’s for good luck,” Lance said, hoping he didn’t notice his furious blushing.

A small smile formed on his face. “Come on, we need to go before a patrol catches us.”

“Alright Red, cradle me in your arms!”

Sadly, Keith just threw him over his shoulder again and started walking. Lance had to force down a near-giddy smile; there was just something about being with Keith that made him so happy, even when they were infiltrating a top-secret evil base that looked like something straight out of a movie together. After that conversation, not even the sharp shoulder digging into his stomach or looming fear of getting caught could dim his mood.

“I have another prisoner,” Keith stated to someone else, presumably another guard, who just grunted.

“I’ll throw it in with the rest of them.”

And then Lance was being handed over like he weighed nothing, and he had to bite back a whine them being separated.

This was it, he supposed; he just had to survive until they could escape. No problem, right? He was great at not dying. He did it all the time.

The guard threw him face-first onto the floor, and a sharp stab of pain engulfed his head. Behind him, the screech of the cell door shutting echoed before finally descending into silence.

Something poked him. “Is he dead?”

At that, Lance groaned. “No, no-” He mumbled, pushing himself up “Just give me a minute.” Everything hurt. Seriously, was it even possible to throw someone that hard?

When his vision cleared, he was finally able to get a good look at the people trapped with him. In an average-sized room like this, the Galra had crammed at least thirty people in – all of varying sizes, ages, and appearance. Like him, each were handcuffed so that their powers were suppressed.

He squinted at one of the people in front of him. “Plaxum?”

She stared at him blankly for a moment, then gasped. “Blue?”

Murmurs rippled through the crowd at the name, and Lance was recognising more and more of his peers. He’d tried to protect at least half the people in this room, but each one had fallen to Red. Now they were all here, undoubtedly going through the same horrors that Keith had. His heart sunk.

Back then, he couldn’t save them, but now things were different. He had friends and allies backing him up, and he would not let these people down again.

“I’m here looking for someone,” He said “Tall guy, Asian, black hair, grey eyes, probably smoking hot? Is he here..?”

Plaxum’s face fell, and her expression turned solemn. “You mean Shiro. He’s just been returned by the druids and has not woken up yet.”

“Can you take me to him?”

A group of people parted, and she led him to the far corner of the room where someone was lying down, hidden only by the sheer number of others crammed into the cell. Patches of blood were splattered across his clothing – some of which were still damp – and strips of fabric were wrapped around some of the deeper cuts to act as makeshift bandages.

This Shiro was noticeably different to Keith’s description. The tuft of hair going over his forehead had turned a shocking white that made it stand out against the rest of his midnight-black hair, and a scar going across his nose spoke of many more like it hidden under the rags he wore as clothes.

But most striking was the arm. While his left was completely human, his right was replaced with a rigid metal prosthetic that was cold to the touch. The skin around where it was connected was blood red and covered in haphazard burn marks, and a band was fastened far too tightly near the top of the prosthetic, presumably to prevent it from doing something.

After a few moments, Shiro grimaced and a pained groan slipped from his mouth as he slowly regained lucidity. His artificial fingers twitched slightly, then tensed as he used his other arm to push himself into a sitting position.

There was an intake of breath as he slowly raised his artificial limb, studying it until his face crumbled in horror.

“Shiro?” Lance asked softly.

He shook his head. “This shouldn’t be possible.”

“What do you mean?” He leaned slightly closer, making sure he’d gotten his attention. The other glanced at him for a split second before averting eye contact.

“My power is regeneration.” He paused, then added “It should have grown back.”

Before he could reply, Shiro started to shakily try to stand, only to fall back down. When he tried again, Lance gently pushed him back. “You need to rest.”

“No, I’ll be fine. I just need to-“ He grunted in pain as he tried, and failed, again “Okay, you were right; I’ll relax. Not much else to do here anyway.” While he was speaking, Lance had sat down next to him and was anxiously tapping his foot. “Are you new here? I don’t think I’ve seen you before.”

“Yeah, I just arrived. The name’s Lance.”

“Shiro – although I guess you already knew that.”

“I know your brother.” Shiro’s eyebrows darted upwards at that “We came here to get you out.”

“Get me out?” He echoed.

Lance nodded “And the others too!”

Resting his head on the cold wall behind him, he smiled wistfully. “It’s been so long since I’ve been outside; I’ve almost forgotten what the sky looks like. Matt would be so excited right now if he were here.”

“Matt? As in Pidge’s brother Matt? She’s been looking for him!”

“Last time I saw him, he was being taken away by the druids. He never came back.” It took a few moments to process. If Shiro’s arm and Keith’s trauma were anything to go by, the druids were not to be messed with, but outright killing someone? Logically he knew they had probably done that many times, but his heart still couldn’t accept it; it was too horrific.

There must be another reason, he tried to tell himself, but if there were then Matt would be here with them in this cell.

“Maybe they transferred him to another prison?” He asked weakly, but Shiro’s grim expression made the answer all too clear

“No-one has ever been transferred before. If I hadn’t heard the Galra talking about it, I wouldn’t even believe the other prisons exist.” He placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry, Lance.”

“Thank you,” He whispered, then shook his head as he tried to push his grief away. “Let’s just focus on getting everyone out of here for now.”

“How exactly do you plan on getting out?”

Lance just raised his still-cuffed hands and, after checking that he was obscured from any prying guards, pressed a button hidden on them. They unlocked with a soft click, and he winked at his cellmate who responded with an anticipatory grin.

As if on cue, the ground beneath them started to tremble, and cracks pierced the floor. While the others stepped back, Lance ran to the front of the cell, peering outside it as best as he could while the guards outside started shooting at someone just outside of his view. The culprit was clear however when two trees burst from the floor, wrapping around them like a coffin.

Casual footsteps echoed down the hall, and soon enough Pidge appeared, brandishing a pair of keys.

“Hey Pidgeon,” Lance grinned “Fancy seeing you here.”

She shot him a playful look, handing him his gun and unlocking the cell doors as the other prisoners watched, perplexed.

“It’s fine,” He reassured them “She’s with me. Now come on – we need to get those cuffs off you guys.”

“Everyone form a line,” Shiro commanded when everyone started rushing toward the exit, and (to Lance’s surprise) they did. Already being uncuffed thanks to just returning from the druids, he helped calm some of the prisoners down while Lance worked. Outside, Pidge stood guard until all the power-nullifying handcuffs had been removed; she made small talk with the trapped guards while she waited.

Lance couldn’t bear to tell her about Matt yet. It would shatter her heart.

Once everyone was freed, Lance and Pidge guided the front of the group toward the exit, taking care of any guards they encountered along the way, while Shiro and Plaxum stayed at the back. Despite being such a large group, no-one dared to speak as they walked down the long, barren halls, and the chorus of footsteps echoed like thunder.

Lance marched forward, his power dancing at his fingertips as he silently challenged anyone they may encounter, and then they made it to the entrance – an open, sterile-looking space with a staircase hidden in the corner that was their ticket out of there – and everything went to shit.

Chunks in the plain walls slid open with a hiss, revealing rows of hidden doorways – each crammed with Galra soldiers. They flooded out in rigid rows – some preparing their powers, most armed with guns.

Someone shrieked.

Throwing up his hands, Lance shot waves of ice outward which culminated in a thin ring of ice surrounding the group. It was enough to form a mediocre barrier, but wouldn’t last long. Behind him, the crowd was terrified, too scared to even react.

“Everybody out!” Shiro bellowed, and like a switch had been flipped, the group went from deer in the headlights to a galloping hoard. They charged at the exit, but the soldiers were also speeding up. A few bullets started to pierce through the wall, despite Lance’s best efforts to reinforce it, and he knew that they wouldn’t have long before they would be swarmed.

Steadily, a crack formed across the bulk of the barrier before continuing to break in a spiderweb-like fashion. It had almost engulfed the entire thing in a matter of seconds.

“Everyone’s outside, but you need to hold them off!” Shiro yelled from the back of the room.

“Easier said than done,” Lance hissed under his breath and he shot beams of ice at the wall. It was becoming useless – the soldiers were crushing the wall at twice the rate he could fix it, and he really, really hoped Hunk was getting everyone to safety as quickly as he could.

Just as Shiro was about to dart upstairs with the rest of the prisoners, a cackle echoed around the room like nails on a chalkboard, and a hooded woman appeared in front of him. “Champion,” She hissed, and he barely dodged out of her way in time. “I made you strong and this is how you repay me?”

“Shiro!” Pidge shouted, whipping a vine at his attacker. She held out a hand, catching it, and it disintegrated under her grasp.

“Do not interfere, little girl – unless you want to perish the same way your brother did.”

“Matt?” She asked, voice rising to a crescendo “What did you do to Matt?”

The ice wall shattered.

The soldiers descended on their group like vultures and Lance finally felt the effects of the energy he had been exerting to protect them, but he had no choice to fight. Using his own gun proved futile when he realized he couldn’t properly focus his eyes, so he was forced to revert back to his powers.

“Pidge, I could really use your help right now!”

But Pidge wasn’t paying attention – too focused on the witch in front of her. Shiro had no offensive powers, and where the heck was Keith? Were they seriously leaving him to do this alone?

The ground rumbled again, and the roof above the soldiers started to cave in. In an instant, the soldiers went from calm to panicked, scrambling for cover as massive chunks of debris started raining down, landing everywhere but on Pidge, Shiro, and him. Behind the falling rocks, Lance could make out a figure falling with them, and his face broke into a wide grin as he recognized who it was.

“Sorry I’m late, guys!” Hunk waved from the back of one of the larger boulders, and Lance felt like bursting into tears. He landed next to him, pulling him into a quick hug before surveying the scene in front of him. “Who’s the scary lady?”

Lance steadied himself. “I don’t know, but she’s bad news.”

There was a scream of pain. The two darted their attention back to the woman just in time to see Pidge flung across the room and Shiro struggling in her grip.

“Don’t hurt my friends!” Lance bellowed, rushing forward. For a moment, his ice made contact with her, sticking her legs firmly to the ground, and then her head whipped up, glowing eyes studying him, and she disappeared.

He should have known that she wasn’t really gone, but in that moment he was too worried to care. Hunk had already gone after Pidge, so he rushed over to Shiro who was steadily pushing himself to his feet but still clearly in pain.

“Are you okay?” He asked, helping him stand.

Shiro grunted, eyes flicking around the room. “I’m alive.”

“Get off me you bitch! Let me go!” Came a shout from inside one of the tunnels, and Lance’s heart almost stopped.

“You’re not in positions to be making demands, traitor,” The witch hissed, her footsteps making no sound as she ghosted through the corridor. Behind her were two guards, holding a screaming and kicking Keith between them.

“Haggar,” Shiro growled under his breath. She turned to face him.

“Come back to me, and I will spare your brother’s life.”

“Shiro.” Keith’s voice cracked a little as he spoke “Don’t. She’ll just torture us both.”

And, even though she was outnumbered, she had the upper hand. Pidge was barely conscious, Hunk was too busy tending to her, and even Shiro was frozen, paralyzed by the witch’s demand. At that moment, Lance’s world began to crumble around him, and he raised his gun upward, peering through the scope.

Though his vision was still slightly off, he could clearly see the cuffs that had been haphazardly forced onto Keith. The two guards were more preoccupied with making sure he couldn’t escape. Keith was struggling, unable to stay still and desperately yelling out to Shiro. He couldn’t hear what he was saying.

His posture relaxed, finger on the trigger. Inhale. Exhale. Focus on Keith’s movements.

He shot.

The blast darted past a guard and barely missed Keith as he moved, hitting the locking mechanism dead on. It sparked once, twice, and deactivated, falling from his wrists. They hit the ground with a loud clatter, and Keith engulfed his body in flames.

Immediately the guards recoiled. “What are you waiting for? Get him!” Haggar seethed, throwing a lightning bolt at Keith. It missed, hitting a guard in the leg instead; she either didn’t notice or didn’t care.

Using his fire as a booster, Keith propelled himself forward. They barely had enough time to make eye contact when Haggar disappeared again, and Lance immediately started on another barrier.

“We have to get out of here,” Shiro stated, panic lacing his voice.

Hunk grimaced, gesturing to the exit that had been covered by the falling debris. “That might be a problem; the only way out is up.”

“Pidge,” Lance said “You think you can summon enough energy to get us out of here?”

“I can try.” She smiled weakly – her face covered in cuts and bruises. He had to hold back a grimace at the sight.

Letting Hunk help her stand, Pidge steadily lifted her arm. The floor beneath them trembled as she pulled out a root, which steadily became larger as she continued until the entire group found themselves standing on it.

As he felt himself be lifted upward, Lance studied the room, waiting for Haggar to materialize. It was deathly silent: most soldiers having fled as soon as possible, and the two Haggar had recruited just stared blankly at them, unsure what to do about the massive vine protruding from the ground.

He really hoped that those soldiers knew that the prisoners had been freed; he didn’t want to have to fight someone who was blackmailed like Keith was, and he sure as hell didn’t want anyone having to hang around Haggar for longer than necessary. 

“The prisoners should be at Allura’s house by now. They’ll be okay,” Hunk mumbled “They have to be okay.”

Lance reached over to pat him on the shoulder. “Coran will protect them; you don’t need to worry.”

“Yeah, I know. I just feel like something bad is going to happen.”

They were passing through the holes in the ceiling now, and it was clear that Pidge was starting to tire. She wasn’t the only one: Keith was still roughed up from his capture, Shiro and Hunk had used up most of their energy, and Lance’s whole body was aching – desperately wanting a nap after all this was over.

Haggar was still out there, he reminded himself, and she wouldn’t let them go without a fight. No matter what, he could not let his guard down.

He fumbled for his gun as they rose to the surface. After Hunk’s entrance, the flimsy old warehouse hiding the entrance to the base had finally collapsed, leaving jagged metal littering the floor. He gingerly stepped over some as they moved away from the site, never once lowering his weapon. 

Beside him, Hunk was trembling slightly. Pidge had passed out and was being carried by Shiro. Keith rapidly clenched and unclenched his fist.

A sharp pain exploded across his back, and he was falling to the ground before he could fully register what had happened. Immediately there was someone holding him, and Keith was saying something that the ringing in his ears blocked out. Was he crying? His vision was too fuzzy to tell; he smiled reassuringly at him anyway.

“Lance! Lance, stay with me. You’re going to be okay,” Someone was saying, and he belatedly realized that his hearing had cleared up slightly – even though the yelling of that person was starting to worsen his headache. He was too tired for this. All he wanted to do was-

“Keep your eyes open, Lance!” Keith’s voice cut through his daze. Despite his back feeling like it was on fire, he listened, forcing his eyes open to meet his gorgeous violet ones which immediately softened.

“I’m here,” He mumbled to him.

Belatedly, he realized that he was being carried by Shiro. It was hard to see through the pain, and some of his muscular arm was blocking his vision, but he could just make out the others around him readying themselves. If there was any doubt Haggar was nearby, it was long gone by now.

All at once, cackling assaulted them from all directions. Haggar appeared from nowhere, then appeared again and again, duplicating herself until the entire group was surrounded.

Shiro carefully placed him on the floor, propping him upright before turning back to face the witch. The action ignited his back again and he groaned slightly in pain, trying to push himself into a better position so he could see what was happening, but this proved futile as he could barely move his arm, let alone push himself up.

Though he couldn’t see his friends that well, the sounds of battle filled his ears. His friends were fighting so hard and what could he do? Immediately get injured. This wasn’t right. This couldn’t be right.

But he was so tired. All he wanted was for this to be over - for his injuries to be healed and his friends to be safe. No Haggar, no Galra, just them living out normal lives with the worst problems they had to deal with being homework. He missed his family.

Slowly, he pushed himself up again with shaky arms. His back flared and his head throbbed, but he kept going, pulling his body across the ground to reach his gun that had fallen to the floor in the midst of all this chaos. He grasped the smooth metal, cradling it close to him with one hand and using the other to steady himself.

He had to help them.

Narrowing his vision, he focused on Haggar. She fought Keith, darting and teleporting around him like she wasn’t even trying, but there was a pattern to it, and he could see where she’d be next.

He raised his gun upward and shot. The bullet hit her square in the chest. She flickered and vanished.

Immediately, every other duplicate in the area turned toward him.

“Why don’t you just _stay down?_ ” They unanimously hissed. Lance shot the nearest one a grin, too exhausted to say anything. His vision started to flicker, and his body felt like concrete.

Energy sparked around her palm, culminating as a ball of darkness in her hand. It crackled with sparks as it absorbed the light around it, swirling and twisting like a miniature black hole, and it was pointed right toward him.

Keith cried out. He couldn’t move. He couldn’t _move!_

Lightning-like bolts of darkness shot toward him, twisting and writhing through the air in a beam of destruction. Haggar was screeching something. Keith was screaming louder. Lance could barely hear them over the pounding of his own heart. There was nothing he could do but brace himself.

Nothing happened.

Warily, he looked up. Allura was standing between him and the witch, arms raised to block the attack, and she was _glowing._

“No!” Haggar screeched, throwing bolt after bolt of energy at her. Each was absorbed, going from inky black to bright magenta as it made contact with her body.

A forcefield shimmered and formed around her body, sparking with contained power. By this point, Haggar had forgone her assault, but it was too late. The erratic energy shot out in all directions, hitting each clone dead-on until there was only one remaining: the real Haggar.

“Leave us in peace,” Allura commanded “We have done nothing to deserve your cruelty.”

Haggar just sneered, surveying the scene in front of her before vanishing into thin air.

Immediately, Allura’s shoulders slumped back and she relaxed somewhat. She then turned around to face Lance, leaning down so that they were at eye level. “Lance,” She said “I owe you an apology.”

“’S okay, Princess,” Lance smiled weakly up at her, words slurred by the pain “You were badass.”

“But if I had agreed to help you instead of pushing you away, then-”

“Shush,” He mumbled “You were just bein’ careful. Don’ apologize.”

“Lance!” Keith had run up to them “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, ‘m fine. Can we go now? ‘M tired.”

Keith just smiled fondly, leaning over and lifting his limp body into his arms, cradling him close. He smiled up at him, his heart feeling lighter as he did so, and finally let himself rest.

**Author's Note:**

> [My tumblr](http://squirrelnova.tumblr.com/)


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